As Time Flies
by Wrinkles the Troll
Summary: Tabitha was born and raised in southern USA. Sent to live with distantunheard ofrealitives in England, Tabitha is then whisked into a whirlwind of new ideas and concepts. HG , RonTabitha , HrSS
1. Beginning Note

"As Time Flies" will be _very_ true to it's name.

I'm trying a new form of writing, as I can't seem to get anything out finished lately. I'm writing 10 or eleven chapters of this story. That's it. They've all been written before I even post chapter one, so you won't have to worry about not being able to find out the end in store.

I'm aiming to fit in everything that's happening in this story between the start of Summer, and Christmas.

Things will happen very fast, but that's the whole point.

I'm going to start a 'Tabitha' series after this, and each story will grow and eventually, things will be able to happen at a normal pace. Some will be a sequel to others, some a prequel, and some will have absolutely nothing to do with previous stories.

So, if you're all quite ready to get on with the story, and shut me up with the babbles, go ahead. I don't mind. Really.

But I would appreciate it very much if you'd review. Flame, or just a 'hello' will do, but you get chocolate chips in your cookies if you leave a nice one.  3

P.S. I'm VERY interested in getting a betta. If your interested, PLEASE drop me a PM or review or SOMETHING. I bribe with brownies:P


	2. Chapter One

**When The Sky Falls**

**By: Wrinkles The Troll**

**Cast Of Characters:**

**(characters that weren't already in the books, of course)**

**The cast of characters will be updated every time there is a new (main) character in the story they will be added here. If you want to know any kind of the information below, This is where you'll be able to find it.**

**©**

**Name: Tabitha**

**Age: 16**

**Hometown: Guntersville, Alabama, U.S.A**

**Favorite Color: Green**

**Future Wand: Phoenix Hair, Cedar, 8 ½ inches.**

**Dominant Hand: Right**

In which Tabitha finds that Redheads like to talk

Or

In which Tabitha acknowledges her phone bill.

By the time I boarded the train, it was almost midnight, and my aunt had called my cell phone seven times from the car in the parking lot behind me asking where in the world is the plane and when are you leaving. And I replied each time with a I Don't Know, How About You Just Leave And I'll Call You When It's Here.

Of course I can't leave you here, silly. She would reply. Your mother would kill me.

Our phone conversation would then be terminated and I would mumble on about how she would also kill you for letting me go to school in a whole other country across the Atlantic ocean and live out in the middle of no-where with long-lost relatives she'd probably never heard of. But I kept that part of the conversation to myself.

I was seated by an old man, constantly drooling onto a bib his now-sedated wife sat on his shoulder. I'm very glad I have an empty seat beside me, otherwise I would have fallen asleep against the drool. Ew.

I pulled out the piece of paper that had been mailed to my aunt. It was completely blank, when I looked at it, but my aunt had read it aloud to me, and gave it to me to look over while I was packing for the out-skirts of Oxford.

I studied the piece intensely over the next few hours, interrupted by frequent visits to the restroom caused by the warm punch served by the attendant in first class. The last thing I remember before I left the conscious world, was the old lady two seats down waking up and smiling warmly at me. I remember thinking that it was the nicest smile in the world, and shouldn't everyone have a smile like that?

I woke up approximately 6 hours later, and the attendant was making her rounds. The sky outside was pitch black, broken up by small amounts of translucent white fluff, which I remember thinking of as demented, odd-shaped clouds. I learned later that I was very far from right, and very close to wrong.

A loud but muffled voice came over the speakers,

"Approximately ten minutes until landing time in the Oxford International Airport. After we land, please stay seated until informed otherwise."

I gathered the few belongings I had carried on to the plane with me, and buckled in, awaiting 'touchdown'.

I shall never again ride an airplane by myself. Nor get off it by myself. I had to wait in line FOREVER, just because I was under eighteen. I was sixteen for goodness sakes, didn't those long sixteen years count for SOMETHING?

But alas, I waited in line among 17 other parent-less under-eighteens in the back of the line, only to get up front and for them to realize that my luggage was still on the plane that was ABOUT TO TAKE OFF!

Luckily, the plane couldn't get off the ground yet because the cargo hold wouldn't close, because of 6 suitcases, strung together, and no-one on the plane would claim them as theirs. The cargo-hold man was greatly relieved when I tapped him on the shoulder and asked him if he had happened to see six attached suitcases in the color maroon. I loaded them onto a cart the airport had lended me, and plodded my lonely self across the long landing strip, over to the airplane parking lot, and back into the building. Fortunately, it was semi-empty, and I had plenty of room to look for either a large family with red hair, a woman and a man with red hair, or a boy and girl my age with red hair.

Lucky for me, I found the whole family… or what looked like it anyways.

"Hi." I said, standing in front of them while they all looked over my shoulder, as if not believing I was really me and searching for someone else. Or perhaps they just hadn't heard me. I can see that happening, since I was probably 70 yards away, wishing that I was still at home, knowing that tomorrow I would get up and go to school, beaming because it was only 2 more days until summer break.

I walked a bit closer, almost to where I could touch one of them by stretching out my hand as far as it would go, and said "Hello. Are you the, erm, Weslys?"

A short and rather round lady with red hair stepped up to me and said, "You mean the Weasleys dear?"

I nodded. Weslys, Weasleys, why must this be so difficult?

"Why yes we are! You must be Tabitha! You've grown so much from the pictures we've seen! Are you hungry dear? I know you must be tired. Why it's barely three in the morning where you come from! We'll be at the burrow in a jiffy. Have you ever apparated dear? Why am I asking, of course you haven't! Forgive me dear, I'm getting old! Now, I must know what you'd like for breakfast, I'll have Ginny or Ronald bring it up to you, or I might even bring it up myself! It just all depends on how-

"Mum! Our dear Tabitha might like to know who all these strange people around her are!" a boy said. He wasn't horrid looking, but he wasn't drop-dead gorgeous. He had a twin brother who was standing right next to him, and when he caught me staring, he smiled and winked.

"Yeah, mum. Our family is pretty intimidating, even without Percy's face here." Said his twin.

"Fred!" Mrs. Weasley scowled, "What will Tabitha think?" (alas! I know somebody's name!)

"I'm not sure we need to worry about what she thinks about Fred and George mum, but I do think that if we don't get on with everything, Tabitha is going to have second thoughts and return to the states on the next flight over."

A small girl with firey red hair fought through the crowded family, and held out her hand. Freckles bridged her nose, and a friendly dimpled smile adorned her face. "Hi. My name's Ginny. Don't mind these dolt's. They're only people who like to call themselves my brothers. We picked them up on the way here, and they just won't leave us alone. The one with the red shirt on is Fred. We'll make sure they wear name-tags while you're here." She chided, "But don't worry about getting them mixed-up. Mum can't even tell them apart sometimes. The other one's George. The one standing beside them is Ron. He's 16. Fred and George are almost 19. And I'm fifteen. That's mum. Dad's out in the car. He's making sure it doesn't-

"Oh Ginny dear!" Mrs. Weasley interrupted, "I believe we have talked the poor dear to death! Run along and tell Dad to warm up the car will you!" she added in a warning tone, and I watched Ginny blush as though she had had a slip-of-the-tongue and waddled off, and the group I had just joined followed behind her, finally silent.


	3. Chapter Two

In which Tabitha takes a ride to the countryside

Or

In which Tabitha rides a broom.

Chapter Two:

It didn't take us long to get out into the semi-middle-of-nowhere, and an even shorter time to get to their home.

We drove up and packed in the front of a wooden gate. There was a sign nailed crooked to the top rung of the gate that christened the building beside it,

"The Burrow"

I took "The Burrow" to mean it was the barn, and the main house was somewhere else. But the barn was almost literally falling to pieces! I could only hope that this was the oldest thing on the property, and that the house wasn't in any resemblance to this… thing. Half the building was leaning sideways on stilts, and so many different materials were woven into the structure, it looked like a demented patchwork quilt.

And right up until the point that R…R… Ron? Yeah, Ron. Right up until the point that he walked towards the burrow and said, "Come on, we'll take your stuff upstairs." Did I truly believe that the "Burrow" was their barn.

I never prayed much before, but boy did I then. I prayed that the house wouldn't fall on me, that It didn't leak, that it didn't move at night. Or any time of day for that matter.

I slowly walked into the house, expecting everything to be lop-sided and crooked. Quite the contrary. It was cozy looking, and the minute I stepped onto the threshold I felt as if this was where I was meant to be. It felt magical, but that sounds childish and cheesy.

It felt like I was home.

SO I just kind of stood there, with this look on my face that probably said,

"Oh."

Ginny lugged my suitcase up the first stair and smiled.

"Come on. You'll be sharing my room this summer."

I nodded, and followed her up the stairs, waiting for the stairs to fall in with each step I made. We stopped on the second landing, and entered the door to the right. A bright, semi-girlish room greeted me. A large window with swinging shutters took up the majority of the wall in front of me, and with the tiny space left, the headboard of a bed fit in-between the window and the intercepting wall. The footboard of the bed was shared by the other bed in the room, making the spot perfect for late night chats. The rest of the room was cluttered with a doorway, leading to the bathroom I presumed, a tall armoire, a desk, a radio, and two bedside tables.

"You can heave the left side of the closet," She said as she pointed to the armoire, "And I'll have the right. Me and Mum moved all my winter stuff upstairs for the time being, so you'd have room for your things and all." She said, almost regretfully.

"I'm sorry, you really didn't have too." I replied, starting to feel uneasy.

"No, No! It's fine! I didn't mean to get all sad on you or anything, a short flashback, that's all." She patted my arm, "Really. It's fine. Now don't go getting all nervous on me, I'm really glad you're here. We all are. And this fall, oh –wow- I just can't wait."

I nodded and gave her a small smile, she seemed nice enough, she deserved it.

I unpacked, took a nap, and by the time I woke up it was 'Dinner', even though I objected that it wasn't even dark out, and Ron looked at me and said, "I think your thinking of supper." And it was THEN that the whole concept of some cultures still using "supper" as…uh…well… the night meal, and calling 'lunch' 'dinner', came to me. But whatever. I was hungry and I didn't want to waste my time with a trifle like adjectives.

I greedily accepted a plate full of Shepard's Pie which I quickly commented that it 'Smelled wonderful, even though I have a stuffed up nose. Anything is better than airplane food at the moment.'

Mrs. Weasley just smiled and patted my arm, "But, eat up dears. Dumbledore's expecting to arrive at 1:00"

I nodded and turned to Ginny.

"Is there any other… unusual British meals I should be aware of?"

Ginny looked thoughtful, and finally decided just to tell me every meal they had.

"Well, there's breakfast, elevenses, brunch, lunch, dinner, supper, desert, and Tea. Not many people eat elevenses, or brunch, anymore, and we don't use the saying 'lunch.' We just use breakfast, tea, dinner, and supper. And If we're lucky, desert." Ginny finished, grinning.

I nodded, thinking this over.

"What about a snack?"

"A snack? Oh! You mean Tea! We'll get one when Dumbledore arrives."

There was that odd name again.

"Who's Dumbledore?"

Ginny faltered, stuttered, and tripped over her tongue, "Oh well, that's a good question." She finally answered, "But I think it's a surprise. I'm pretty sure we're supposed to wait him surprise you on his own."

I started to get a little worried. I mean, come on. I was in the middle of a foreign country, with no _clue_ how these people were related to me, and a secret man was coming to "surprise" me. Uh, can you say freak-out?

Ginny apparently noted my uneasiness because she quickly assured me that they weren't out to kill or torture me "All will be revealed in time."

Ron, Fred, and George had left the table awhile ago, off to play a game called 'Quidditch.' I assumed it was a rather odd board game.

"Don't get too nasty boys! I don't want you sweaty and dirty when Dumbledore arrives!" Mrs. Weasley had called after them.

We were about to head upstairs to chat when Ginny paused,

"When are Harry and Hermione arriving then, Mum?"

"Oh, later on tonight. It'd be wonderful if you'd remind Ron to straighten up his room and set up the cot. I'm positive Harry doesn't want to sleep in that… mess." She smiled, winking at me, "Harry and Hermione are Ron's best friends from school. And once Ginny got there, they made a right foursome." She continued, winking at me.

Ginny groaned, "Mum! I TOLD you not to use that word in front of other people! This day in age it gives them the wrong ideas!"

"Oh GINNY! I'm _sure_ that Tabitha wasn't thinking like that! She probably doesn't even know what we're talking about!"

And actually, I had a _very_ clear idea of what they were talking about, but I wasn't about to let Mrs. Weasley know that.

Ginny rolled her eyes and dragged me up to her room. 'To get ready', She said.

We plopped down on our adjoined beds and giggled.

"So, what's up? You haven't talked much. Are you quiet all the time? Or are you just getting used to everything?"

I laughed. Me? Quiet. Ha.

Shaking my head I told her that it was the latter. "I'm just getting used to everything. But watch out, in a couple of days, I'll be talking so much you'll wish you never asked."

Ginny grinned, "I think we'll get along perfectly."

We never actually "got ready" because when the bell rang, we rushed downstairs still combing our hair with our fingers.

"Good afternoon Albus!" Mrs. Weasley said, inviting a medium sized, skinny man in. He had long white hair, and a long white beard. His eyes were a startling blue, and he wore the most interesting of clothing. A blue sky speckled with stars served as the pattern on his tall-dare I say it- wizard's hat, and his robes were layered with several colors.

He caught sight of me and smiled, "Ah, Tabitha! How was your trip?"

I nodded, "Fine. Thank you."

Mrs. Weasley motioned for him to sit on the couch and scurried off to the kitchen to get drinks, just as the boys came in.

'Dumbledore' sat down and gestured me and Ginny over to the couch opposite.

"Ron! Fred! George! Glad the summer's here, are we?"

Ron nodded vigorously. "Yes sir."

The twins came over to shake Dumbledore's hand.

"And how's the shop coming boys? Putting any aside to pay for my nursing house? Eh?" He chided, and the twins just grinned.

I got the feeling that Dumbledore was some sort of grandfather, but not by blood. An old family friend, maybe?

After a serving of tea and cakes, Mrs. Weasley shooed the boys out of the room and nodded at Dumbledore. "We waiting for the rest of them before we explain, then?"

Dumbledore nodded, just as the bell rung again. He smiled, "Not for long, I reckon."

A woman who I came to know as "Minerva" entered the home, along with a boy named Harry, A girl named Hermione, both who looked my age, and right before the door closed, a tall, lanky man with pale skin and dark hair swept into the room. Mrs. Weasley looked startled.

"Oh! Severus ! I didn't know you'd be joining us. I'll go pour another cup of tea."

'Severus' nodded his thanks and sat down in a single chair, eyeing the room suspiciously. His eyes caught mine, and he raised his eyebrows, while slowly adverting his gaze to the ornate lighting. I blushed, and turned to Ginny as she started speaking to me.

"Tabitha, this is Harry and Hermione. Harry, Hermione, this is Tabitha." She said, clearly rushing through the introductions.

I smiled and raised my hand to shake theirs, "Hello."

The boy offered a comforting smile and grinned, "Hey. Are you staying for the summer?"

"Oh Harry, don't start the 'I'm clueless' act. She'll know everything in a minute."

Harry looked startled and embarrassed all at once, "Oh? So soon? No… 'getting acquainted' time?"

"If you'd arrived earlier, you'd had plenty of time. Now sit down, and Hermione and I are going to follow Mum into the kitchen like good little girls."

She patted my hand, "Don't be frightened," She said as she got up, "Believe everything Dumbledore tells you, unless he's jesting of course, and trust Harry. I promise, everything will turn out for the better if you do. I'll be right inside the kitchen, so If you need to completely go crazy for a bit, excuse yourself to the loo, and we'll have a quick walk. 'Kay?"

I nodded and smiled, accepting the quick hug from Ginny, and returning the wave from Hermione, I settled back into the couch as Harry sat down beside me. As Dumbledore sipped his tea for a few moments, I pondered on how quickly I had become comfortable with Ginny. It was one of those feelings, like when you're in kindergarten, and you see a girl that seems to be saving a seat, and when you ask here if you can sit there, she smiles and says 'yeah', just like you're the one she's been waiting for, and you instantly become best friends.

Okay, so I'm over-analyzing things again, but, do you get the picture?

Harry interrupted my thoughts with a "This is a bit awkward, huh?"

I nodded, "just a bit." I admitted carelessly.

Dumbledore cleared his throat and set down his tea. Severus followed.

"Tabitha dear, I'm going to get straight to the point. The only reason we sent for you, was because your aunt was your only guardian, and we knew you weren't too happy there. If your parents hadn't passed away, they would've been the ones to tell you all of this, and furthermore, you'd have gone to an American school, not very different from the one your about to enter this fall. We're wizards. Harry, Severus and I. Mr. Weasley, Fred and George too. Mrs. Weasley? Ginny? They are also. But they preferred being called the female version of wizards, witches. The good kind, mind you. There are about 2 million of us, living here in Europe, if not quite a bit more. We live in secrecy. We've created our own world, and some of it's even inside the muggle world. Dear me, I'm sorry. Muggle is what we call 'non-magical beings'. We're still humans of course, but it's almost like another race. And Tabitha, you're a witch also. Your mother was, as was your father."

I was gaping. All this information at once? But it felt… right. As If I knew it all along.

Dumbledore continued, "When you arrived here this morning, you thought the burrow was falling sideways, did you not?" I nodded, "Well it is. As far as we know, it was built like that, but It's always been held up by magic. Would you like to see some now?"

I did my best to nod.

Over the next two hours, I saw Harry being lifted into the air, and learned many more things. Like the fact that we were in the midst of a war. And that I was thought to be important to the 'light' side of the war. I learned about Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, and Hogsmede. I got a detailed summary of Harry, Hermione, and Ron's first 6 years at Hogwarts. And then I was asked a _huge_ question.

"Tabitha, You have a choice. Well two, actually. Would you like to stay here in the wizarding world?"

I nodded.

"Alright then. Brilliant. Now, would you like to begin separately from Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny? Or would you like to start in their year with instilled knowledge of the basics you would have learned in your 1-6th year?"

I looked at Harry for advice.

He shrugged, "I'd love for you to start with us. I think you'd feel a bit awkward being the eldest of the first years."

I nodded, "Could I start out with Harry?"

Dumbledore smiled gently, "That was one of the choices, was it not?"

I grinned sheepishly.

"But, now, Ginny's only in her 6th year. That's because she's only 15, but Harry, Hermione and Ron are 17, therefore they are in their 7th year.. Normally, 16 year olds would go into 7th year also, but I'm going to give you a choice."

I thought this over. Being in 6th year would allow me to have more time at Hogwarts, and even though I was about to 'learn' the 6th year material, I'm sure It would do me good too…

"Could I go into 6th year?"

Dumbledore nodded, "I agree completely. Now are we ready?"

I nodded.

I was kneeling on the floor, sifting through all the information that had just been placed in my mind. Everybody else had gone to the kitchen, and I heard murmured conversations.

"She's taking this really well." Harry whispered.

"I imagine that the shock will come later on, Potter." A deep voice replied.

Silence ensued.

"Should we go back in?"

"we shouldn't leave her alone for too long, not yet at least."

Saving them from movement, I stood up and walked into the kitchen. Spying an empty chair beside Ginny, I sat down.

"So." I said, trying to start a conversation.

"Indeed." Dumbledore replied.

"Hagrid will be accompanying you 5 to Diagon Alley, just to get some things that Tabitha will need during her summer. He'll go with you again in August to get school supplies."

Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione nodded, and stood up.

"Is he waiting outside?" Harry asked, looking eager too see this 'Hagrid'.

Dumbledore nodded and I found myself being rushed out of the door by Ginny.

A very tall, very large man stood by a group of floating…brooms?

"Hagrid!" Harry called, waving wildly.

He was engulfed in a hug, as were the others, while I stood idly by the front door of the burrow.

"Hagrid, this is Tabitha."

The man stroked his beard and looked down at me.

"Tabitha, eh?" He stooped down to my eye level, "Glad to 'ave ya."

I smiled and nodded.

I watched as everyone climbed on a broom and turned around on them, silently looking at me.

I raised my eyebrows. Were they expecting my to get on one of those? A look of understanding crossed over Ginny's features, and she turned to Ron.

"Can she ride with you?"

Ron nodded and scooted back, helping me get up.

He slowly flew 5 feet upwards, and I clung to his sleeves.

I could hear the smile in his voice as he talked right beside my ear.

"Don't worry. Just lean forward and hang on." He assured me, and suddenly, all four brooms were in the air, followed by a flying motorcycle. Where had Hagrid hidden that?

I was freaked out beyond belief, but when I finally opened my eyes and saw the view, I gasped, "Wow."

He chuckled, "Like the view?"

I nodded as my mouth formed an 'o' as the city of London came into view.

Ron snorted, "Trust me, the city isn't all that amazing once you get on the ground. Filth and smut everywhere I tell you."

I shrugged, "As long as it looks beautiful from up here."

Ron seemed to think that over for awhile, because the broom slowed and I could feel Ron's gaze on the side of my face. He murmured something, but I was too intent on getting closer to the city to hear it.


	4. Chapter Three

In which Tabitha goes shopping

Or

In which Tabitha walks in on Ron

Chapter Three:

We landed right out side the bustling city, inside a wood. I asked why didn't any one else see us, and Ron told me that an invisibility charm had been placed on the brooms. I nodded as if this was the most normal thing in the world. Which, I might as well get used to it, because apparently, this is my world too now.

We walked inside a pub and Hagrid raised a hand in greeting to the bar tender, "We'll stop in on the way back, Tom, but right now we've got some business to do."

He nodded and went back to wiping dirty glasses.

We walked to the other side of the building, and my cell phone started going crazy.

Ginny took my phone from my pocket and turned it off, "Any kind of technology that hasn't been charmed goes haywire around magic."

I said "Oh." And placed it back in my pocket.

Hagrid moved a brick from the wall, and walked right through it, as if he was a ghost.

I gasped as Harry followed suit. Ginny nodded at me, and I slowly stepped forward and took the brick, and with one last cautious look at Ron, I stepped forward.

The world I had stepped into was amazing. Witches and wizards bustled about, in robes of all kinds, and many clutched a long stick.

The sight around me was indescribable.

The first shop we went into was called "Olliviander's Wands"

It was a dusty place, with a single counter in the middle of the store. Numerous bookshelves stood behind it, with tiny boxes stack on them.

A short, round wizard came out from behind a shelf and grinned.

"Harry Potter! Back again, are we? Is the wand still satisfactory?"

Harry nodded.

"We're here to get Tabitha a wand."

The man peered at me through half-opened eyes. "Tabitha, eh?"

I nodded as he beckoned me closer.

"Hmm… I wonder."

He turned around and reached under the counter, coming up with a pale green box.

"This one's been jumping around lately, I guess it knew it's owner was near, eh?"

I smiled sheepishly.

He set the box down, and ceremoniously opened i.

The wand itself was a pale green, almost white, and the length of my forearm.

"Phoenix hair. Made from cedar. 81/2 inches."

He handed it to me, and I turned it around in my hand, amazed as the handle set off a light glowing warmth.

"Try it out," He encouraged, "Know any spells yet?"

I nodded, and waited for something to come to me. What was that lighting charm again?

"Lumos." I whispered, and the wand flickered.

"Lumos." I said louder, and I waved it around.

The wand gave off a brilliant green glow, and lit up the store room.

I couldn't help but smile, and the shopkeeper patted me on the back.

"Glad to help you out, then."

Hagrid cleared his throat, "Just send a note to Dumbledore. She hasn't any currency yet."

He nodded, and with a final grin, bustled back behind the shelves, waving over his shoulder.

"Where are we off to now?" Ginny asked.

"Gringotts. Her mother and father left a fortune that could rival the Potter's."

Harry grinned at me, "Doesn't seem like we're too different after all."

I smiled, but what on earth was he talking about?

It was nearing five in the afternoon by the time we got back to the burrow. Harry had showed me how to shrink my belongings so they all fit in my pocket.

Once I was up in Ginny's room, I pulled them out and waved my wand over them, murmuring the engorgement charm.

I now had 4 lovely new robes, a wand, parchment, ink, and a quill, a trunk to put my things in, my very own broom, a cauldron, Exploding Snap cards, extendable Ears, One vial full of Magical mess remover, 3 Patented Daydream Charms, 4 decoy detonators, 2 rolls of spellotape, one Revealer, One two-way mirror (Fred and George said they would charm it like they did Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny's to make it a… 'five-way' mirror.') A variety bag from Honeyduke's, one camera, and a medium-sized bag full of galleons, sickles, and Knuts.

Ginny and Hermione said that I would come to realize that I would need much more (as if this wasn't enough all ready!) as the summer went on, and that we would be able to get it when they went school shopping at the end of the summer. I thought to myself, They practically shopped FOR me! How could I be missing something?

That night, Hermione set up a cot in between My bed and Ginny's. We talked and giggled for awhile, especially when Ginny started to lightly snore. But then Hermione dozed off, and I was left alone. My bed had a wondrous view of the night sky, and every so often, I saw a shooting star, or something of the sort, fly across the sky.

I realized that I couldn't even be sure that even the most normal thing in my life right now, I wasn't even sure of. Was it magic? Or… 'muggle'? I took a look around. What about my old things? My cell phone? My iPod? My photos? Would they start moving? What would happen? I sat up, starting to get really worked up about all this. How come I believed them so quickly? Normally I would have never believed in someone so quickly. With me, it takes time to build trust. What was I getting myself into? Was this all real? Or was it some kind of hoax? Was I being kidnapped? I looked around, _I had to get out of there._

_The window._

_It all happened so fast. I grabbed my things, even the magical ones, and opened the window. Spying my broom leaning against my bed, I grabbed it. I stood on the slanted roof, tying the pack onto my back. How Was I supposed to get on this thing again?_

I slowly took my wand out, and being as silent as possible, I muttered a lighting charm. I sighed gratefully. Sitting down, I realized I was crying. Crying? Why was I crying?

I couldn't leave. Where would I go? Back to America? No…

I knew this was real. I knew that these people around me were real. I was just having a hard time understanding it. I never was quick to trust something, and I guess this was just my late response to what had happened that day.

I leaned in the window, and set my pack on the bed. I laid the broom on the roof, and placed my hand over it. I smiled widely as it came up into my hands.

I'll just go for a quick ride.

I swung my leg over it, and leaned forward.

I was in the air.

I pushed off from the roof, and found myself gliding high over the Weasley house. I circled the house a few times, then the yard around it, but then stopped. What if someone saw me? I went closer to the house and started swooping over it, and around it.

When I landed on the roof again, Ginny was standing right outside the window.

"Having fun?" She said.

I turned red. "I'm sorry, did I wake you?"

She shook her head, "Hermione's snoring did."

"Oh."

She took my arm, "Tabitha, I know you probably couldn't sleep. And I know you probably just needed to get out and think about things. But _please_ tell me you didn't go far. There are muggles nearby, and if they saw you…"

I shook my head, "I only flew around the yard."

Ginny sighed, and dropped my arm, grinning she said, "Great. Now, it's a bit chilly. Are you coming inside?"

I nodded, and crawled back in through the oval window.

I fell asleep before my head even hit the pillow.

Still clad in only a long t-shirt and underwear, I toddled to the bathroom.

"ACK! Sorry Ron!" I screeched, slamming the door shut.

I ran back to Ginny's room, and upon jumping onto my bed I thought, "Wow. Nice abs."

Someone knocked on the door as it slowly opened. Sticking his head around the door, Ron grinned, "The loo's free if anyone needs to use it."

I smiled sheepishly from atop my pillows, "Sorry."

He shook his head, "I'm used to it." He nodded at Ginny and Hermione, who were just waking up.

"What're you doing up so early Ron?" Hermione asked, obviously amazed that he was up before she was.

"Mum said that I can have the first of the bacon if I got up early."

"OH NO YOU'RE NOT!" Ginny yelled racing out of the room and into the bathroom.

"NOOOOO!" I cried, falling over onto my bundled comforter and sheets.

Hermione raised her eyebrows.

Ron just laughed, "See you lot downstairs."

I followed Ginny downstairs, (finally after getting to the bathroom!) and plopped into the seat between her and Ron. He had gotten to the bacon first.

When everyone was seated around the table, Ron slipped me 4 pieces of bacon in a napkin.

"Shh." He said, looking at his plate, "Don't make a scene about it. I figured since it's your first breakfast here, you shouldn't have to fight for bacon just yet. Tomorrow, maybe."

I giggled, "Thanks."


	5. Chapter four

In which Tabitha has a long afternoon

Or

In which Tabitha's stomach turns green.

Chapter Four:

"I think that Quidditch would be a fine idea!"

I raised an eyebrow, "Quidditch? Oh, you mean the board game that you were playing yesterday?"

Ginny smiled, "It's a game played outdoors. On brooms."

"Oh."

"I think it's time to show miss Tabitha here how to play Quidditch!" Fred said, agreeing with George's earlier statement.

I nodded my head, "Uh… alright then. Let me just go get my…erm…broom."

"Are you sure you can stay up on that thing?" Ron asked my warily, eyeing me as I pulled my broom into the air and threw my leg over it.

I nodded, "I'm sure. It's not like It's my first time or anything."

"Yeah, your second, but your first was with me. You weren't exactly riding it."

"No, my second time was for an hour outside, in the middle of the night, all by myself.  
I smiled warmly at Ron, "I think I can handle it."

He shrugged, "Whatever. Just be careful."

I looked over at Ginny, who was grinning wildly and had a wicked gleam in her eyes.

I raised an eyebrow, and she gave me an innocent shrug and trotted off, whispering something in Hermione's ear as they made their way on foot to the 'Quidditch Pitch'.

I shook my head, closed my eyes and slowly leaned forward.

_-crack-_

I hate trees. Because, I swear that tree wasn't there when my eyes were open. I swear.

It couldn't have been. Because Ron flew off right in front of me.

"Tabitha! Are you okay? Oh no, I should've warned you about Forg."

"What?" I asked, still woozy from the quick fall and confused as to is this was the twins talking to me, or Ron just decided to make two of him.

"Forg. Fred and George charmed a tree when they were tots, with Dad's wand, and it's never been the same since. It moves constantly, and we always have to be on the lookout if we're flying. Or even sitting for that matter."

One of the Ron's disappeared and I sighed, glad that my vision was back to normal. "Oh."

He helped me stand up, and get back on my broom. He flew beside me all the way to the 'Quidditch Pitch' though, just to make sure.

The Quidditch Pitch was about 15 yards long. It had 3 hoops at each end, each in different height.

"Real Pitches are much larger than this one. This is only about ¼ of the Hogwarts' one."

I nodded, mentally comparing the Quidditch Pitch to a Football Field.

Harry was the 'seeker', Hermione didn't play, she just watched. Ron was the 'keeper', Fred and George were the 'beaters' and Ginny and I were the 'chasers'. Ginny started out with a ball. She flew down to the end where Ron was guarding the hoops, and threw the ball past him into the tallest one.

Harry suddenly shot past me, heading towards the ground.

"He's not going to make it!" I yelled worriedly at Ginny.

"Oh, he'll be fine. This is nothing compared to what he has to do during the real matches. In first year, he made the youngest seeker ever. He's been the seeker ever since. He'll probably be selected to be Captain this next year."

True to her words, Harry straightened up with only a foot to spare, holding a small golden ball with wings clutched in his right hand.

I sighed with relief. This was some game.

We played for some 4 hours, but it was then that I had my accident. Er- half…accident.

We had split up into mini teams, and we had done without bludgers. I was still acting chaser, when one of the bludgers came loose from the trunk and started following Ginny and I. Ginny hadn't noticed it until Harry yelled out, "Ginny! Behind you!"

She had quickly swooped down, slightly grazing the grass and it had turned to catch up with me. I didn't know what it was doing, until I flew up high into the air and it collided with me. I was already having trouble with balance from being on the broom so long, and it was an easy hit as I fell from, oh, 50 feet in the air.

The last thing I remembered was it falling onto my stomach before I blacked out.

"She's coming to!" I heard a muffled voice yell, and I slowly pried open my eyes.

I was in Ginny's room, apparently on my bed, with everyone crowded around me. I blushed as I realized my shirt was pulled up to the bottom of my chest, revealing my bruised stomach.

"Are you okay? Does your head hurt? I know your stomach does. What about your back? Any limbs hurt?"

It was Mrs. Weasley who was cooing over me. She ran her wand over my body, frowning as she reached my stomach, but turning to Fred as she reached my knee, "Fred? Go get me a bag of Ice. Her knee is starting to swell."

It made enough sense. It hurt every time I tried to move it.

She stood up and wiped the hair away from my eyes, "I'll be right back. I'm going to get some potion."

I nodded, and as soon as she left my side, Ginny, Ron, Harry and Hermione were taking up her space, all talking at once.

"… know it hurts."

"…done that…"

"…… Get used to it…..a lot when….play."

There were many more unfulfilled sentences I'm sure, but that's all I could make out.

I closed my eyes and covered my ears, "I can't understand you when you all talk at once like that!"

They smiled, "Sorry."

I grinned.

Ginny grasped my hand, "It was so scary when you fell like that! It was like seeing it all in slow motion, and I couldn't do anything. I should've warned you as to what bludgers do. Maybe you wouldn't of gone up so high then."

I shook my head, "It wasn't your fault Ginny. It would've happened sometime. I mean, It's not like It's inevitable to get hit by a bludgers. I imagine everyone gets hit by one, at least once in their life!"

"What about muggles?"

"Oh, we have bludgers too. But ours aren't in the shape of a ball. They're shaped like a girl. Everybody meets one."

Ginny laughed, "I know what you mean."

Ron and Harry exchanged confused looks, "Uh, we don't"

"You shouldn't." I replied, slowly swinging my legs over the side of my bed. Even in the sitting position, everything throbbed, and especially when I stood up.

"Tabitha! Where in the world are you going?"

"Bath-er-Loo."

"The loo? Why didn't you just say so?"

Suddenly I was being picked up. As I was slowly settled into the bride position, I turned my head around and saw Ron's smiling face, and I suddenly felt at ease.

The loo was only 5 steps up, so I didn't get jumbled too much. The ride there was virtually painless, but when Ron set me on the floor everything came back.

I quickly shut the door and waddled over to the toilet, and suddenly realizing that I didn't have to use the loo anymore. I flushed and washed my hands, just to keep up appearances, and opened the door. I was carried back to my bed, and sighed with comfort as I was laid back on the bed.

Mrs. Weasley was just coming back into the room as I stacked another pillow behind my head.

"I've brought up a pain soother and a dreamless sleep potion. You'll have to take both, and once she does," She turned to everyone else, "I want EVERYONE out of here, and she's better be left alone for the remainder of the day, Do you hear me?"

They nodded, and I suddenly smiled as I concluded that everyone was scared of her.

The first liquid tasted awful, more like a sour grapefruit then anything else. But the second was…dreamy. It tasted like chocolate, and marshmallows, and caramel, and peanut butter, and…

When I woke up it was barely light outside, and Ginny was making up her bed.

"why make it up before you get into it?" I asked, slowly sitting up.

She looked at me strangely, "Erm, Tabby? It's eight o'clock in the morning."

Oh.

She walked around Hermione's empty bed and sat at my feet. "Do you feel any better?"

I nodded, taking a look at my stomach, "It's less purple today, and more green. I think I remember that being a good sign."

She laughed, "Yeah, I think I do too."

"Is she up yet?" Came a voice from the hall.

"No!" Ginny called, "I'm talking to myself!"

The door opened and Ron, Harry, and Hermione trotted through.

"Y ay! Sleeping Beauty has awoken!" Hermione chided, giggling as she looked at Ginny, "Why Ginny! I didn't know you were a prince!"

Ginny had a very confused expression on her face as she looked from Ron, to Harry, and back to Hermione.

"Uh, what? I'm not."

I smiled and looked at Hermione, "Wow. These people really are clueless, huh?"

Hermione laughed, "No, they just weren't taught the fairy tales."

I poked Ginny, "You have the magic touch Ginny. You're a prince!"

She shifted her eyes, "Uh… yeah…. Tabby? Are you okay?"

"Is that what we call her now? Tabby? Like a cat? Hmm… Tabby. Alright." Ron said thoughtfully, laying on Hermione's bed.

Suddenly an owl swooped through the window, and landed on Hermione's leg.

She patted the owl's head and pulled a small treat out of her bedside table. "Thank you Areman. Tell him I'll be sending Ginny's owl, so leave the north window open."

"Who's the mystery guy, Mione?" Harry prodded, taking a swipe at the letter in her hands.

She quickly pulled away, "no one. Just an old friend. Mind your own business, will you?" She said prudishly, standing up and walking out of the room.

I turned to Ginny, "What does that door in the corner lead to?"

She walked over and opened it up, "It's an emergency floo/apparition center. In case of an attack. We have one in almost every room."

I looked around, "are we really that worried about an attack? I mean, why would he come all the way out here?"

"It's not that far really. It'd only take a few seconds longer than going anywhere else. And besides, there's charms and spells on this house so heavy, I doubt that anyone would be able to find it unless they were looking for a house that looked exactly like this." Harry assured me.

"Okay. But why does everyone have a floo? Couldn't you all just use one or two?"

"Only two people can floo somewhere at a time together. With one in every room, there's a better chance of getting out safely. These floos are linked so they can only go one place: Dumbledore's office. And you can only use them if you're a resident of this house. So the death eaters or even Voldemort himself couldn't follow us." Ginny answered me, pointing to a long line of engraved initials on the mantle of the fireplace. "Hermione and Harry's initials were engraved on there the first summer they spent here, and your initials are right here on the left side. They appeared there the minute you set your bags in this room."

I nodded, and started to yawn, realizing I was unexplainably tired.

"You should probably go back to sleep." Ron commented, Sitting up on Hermione's bed.

I shook my head, "I don't want to. I don't _feel_ like sle-ahh-ping."

Ginny giggled, "Yeah right. You just don't want to be alone."

"So what if I don't?"

"Yeah, there's no problem with that." Ron spat, turning to look at Ginny.

Ginny grinned and looked at Harry, who also started to turn red with uncontrollable laughter.

"Yeah, whatever. Ron, you stay in here and keep her company until she goes to sleep." She said, dragging the now shaking Harry out of the room and closing it behind her.

"I'm not GOING to go to sleep!" I yelled at the door.

"At least not now," I muttered, pulling my shirt down to cover my bruise.

There was an awkward silence, until Ron started to ask questions.

"So, do you miss the states?"

I shook my head, "The only things I miss are my friends and my laptop. Well, I have my laptop, but I don't want to turn it on and it to go haywire, like my phone did."

Ron picked up my phone and started looking at it, flipping it open and pushing buttons. His eyes widened as he saw the screen light up.

"Ah! Why did it do that?"

"So you can see it."

"I saw it already! It didn't have to change colors for me to notice it! Hey… is that a picture of you on there? Why are you in your phone? " He asked, very confused as to why my cell phone was making sounds and colors all by itself.

"And what's a laptop."

I sighed, realizing this was going to be a _very_ long afternoon.


	6. Chapter five

This is a link to the picture of Tabitha's small grey tabby kitten:

http/ which Tabitha is slightly crazed

Or

In which Tabitha goes to Hogwarts

Chapter Five:

The Summer went by quickly. I learned more and more about the magical world around me, and even more about the war and what part I was expected to play in it. I learned about the customs of the British, and the surrounding countries. Mr. Weasley didn't play a huge role in any of this, because according to Fred and George, he had a lot of 'ministry' work to do.

I did, however, come to find out that I would need a fair amount more of things from Diagon Alley, and got them when we went school shopping with Hagrid.

I also acquired a small brown Tabby cat. Ginny said that it was fitting, since they'd nicknamed me Tabby. It was quite cute. I named it Boots.

According to the countdown hovering above the kitchen table, there were only 3 more days until we arrived at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We had already packed our trunks, and Mrs. Weasley had given me a patchwork quilt. "Hogwarts gets drafty at night, if I remember correctly. I've given the other's one also." She had said, smiling at me. "I'm so very glad you've come to stay with us. Do you like it here?"

I nodded gratefully, and was pulled into a motherly hug. I smiled, I hadn't had one of those in years.

I had discovered this summer that I wasn't exactly related to the Weasleys, or anyone else for that matter. But I wasn't about to tell anyone else I knew that. I liked feeling like I belonged.

"SUPPER!" Rang a voice through the house. I had never quite gotten used to the magical surround sound that wands provided.

Eating meals was a favorite pastime of the Weasley family household and it's inhabitants. I couldn't believe how much food the boys could wolf down, but I began to realize that Hermione, Ginny, and I weren't much different. Even though Hermione and Ginny had had a head start, We three became almost as big of pigs as the boys, just by observing. Monkey see, monkey do.

It was after dinner, on the night before we left, that I was sitting outside in a large oak tree, watching the sun fall beneath the horizon. Suddenly, I heard a soft 'woosh' of a broom, and Ron appeared beside me, hovering right above the branch I had taken over.

"I used to sit exactly where your sitting." He said, staring at the orange glow that was now the sun, "Every night when all my siblings were at school. I used to wish I could be there with them, and not just sitting home with Ginny."

He stretched and turned his head to look at me, "And now that I'm back home, I never want to leave."

I smiled, nodding. There was a certain… aurora about the Weasley home. It was comforting and sleepy. It was as if you could just sit there forever, while the world was changing vastly around you, and there'd still be Mrs. Weasley bending over the stove, rocking with her knitting. And at evening meals you'd always see Mr. Weasley's hands dirty with oil from whatever muggle toy he was tinkering with in the garage. The twin's room blasting with explosions, Ron's room still shockingly orange, and the comforting embrace of normality in Ginny's room.

"But sometimes, it's all just too much. You want privacy. So I came here." Ron concluded. His eyes danced with a sudden twinkle. But it disappeared as soon as it was gone.

We just sat there for awhile, not saying anything. Just watching as the sun faded into oblivion and night fell like a soft blanket around us. The soft hum of Ron's broom slowly disappeared, it becoming as ordinary as the sound of breathing. It was then that I was jerked out of my reverie.

"Hop on." He said, scooting backwards to make room for me, "Mum will get worried."

I scooted over to the edge, and slowly transferred my body weight to the broom. It didn't take long, and soon, we were flying right above the Weasley forest, gliding towards the house.

"I'm glad you came here this summer, Tabby." He said smiling. "I remember that first day you rode a broom. You were clinging onto me for dear life."

I smirked, "But who can beat you in a broom race now, eh Ron?"

He just laughed, "yeah, yeah, shut up."

When we landed, I hopped off and kissed Ron on the cheek, "Thanks Ron. See you tomorrow."

"Alright dears, hurry up! Ron! You're forgetting Pig!" Mrs. Weasley said, pointing to a bird cage left on the empty trolley.

"Aww Mum! Can't Ginny take him this time?"

"Ronald Weasley he's your responsibility!"

Fifteen minutes later the large train left the station. Ron, Ginny, Hermione, Harry, and I were in the very last compartment, when someone knocked on the door.

It slowly slid open.

"Hey Harry. Is it alright if Luna and I join you?"

"Hi Neville. Yeah, sure. Come on in. Look, this is Tabitha. She's from America. She'll be in 6th year with Ginny."

A medium-sized boy with dark brown hair stepped into the compartment and smiled, "Hullo. I'm Neville, and this is-

"Luna Lovegood."

The girl was very strange indeed. I was beginning to get worried that all other magical people were like this, when Ginny leaned over and whispered, "Luna's loony. Don't mind her."

Luna had startling dirty blonde hair, and a butterbeer cap necklace. Her eyes were clear blue, and they had a frightening mist about them.

"My dad's the editor of the Quibbler. So your from America? What part? I hear the south has a devastating infestation of wrackspurts."

"Erm, uh. What?" I turned to Harry for help, "what?" I whispered, shifting my eyes between Luna and him.

"just nod you're head, and don't tell her any details."

I turned back to Luna and nodded.

"So you've heard of them? Have you ever encountered one?"

I shook my head no twice.

"So you haven't heard of them?"

I nodded my head.

"So you _have_ heard of them?"

I shook my head, no.

She became antsy, and said, "Oh Well, uh, I'll just go see where the trolley is."

As soon as the compartment door closed, I put both my hands over my heart, and fell over onto the floor.

"what on earth _is_ she?" I cried, finding someone's shoe and holding onto their leg for dear life.

"that my dear," Came a voice from the leg's owner, "Is Luna Lovegood."

I sat up and frowned, letting go of Ron's leg. "But that's her name! What do we call her species?"

Harry patted my head, "Loony."

"Hey!"

"Her, not you." He said, defending himself.

I smiled, and crawled back up into my seat. "oookay."

Ginny turned to me, "Are you okay Tabby? No… woozy feelings?"

"I thought I felt a wrackspurt in here!" Neville cried, standing up. "When it comes out, catch it, will you? I'll give it to Luna for Christmas!"

Ginny looked up at Neville, "You're kidding, right? Please say your kidding."

I laughed, and laughed and laughed. This eventually caused Ginny to laugh. So we sat there, laughing our hearts out.

When I finally calmed down, I laid back with my feet in Ginny's lap, "You magical people really are crazy, you know that, right?"

Harry nodded, "But your magical too. You're not even half-muggle. You're pureblood."

I sat up, "What's that mean?"

"That both of your parents' parents were born into the magical world, and that their parents' parents were too, and so on and on until the world was formed.

"Hmm.." I sat there for awhile. I had never really known my parents. They passed when I was three.

Ginny frowned, "Most purebloods go into Slytherin."

"Tabby wouldn't go there. She hasn't a mean bone in her body." Ron said. His eye was twitching.

"hahaha, that's what you think!" I said, scooting over to Ron's ear.

"But I know for a fact, that when Harry gets up, something very bad will happen." I whispered, then scooted back over to Ginny.

He looked at me, "Will it be funny?"

I looked at him after I lied back down, "Ohhhh yes. Very."

He nodded, content with my answer, then lied down and promptly started to snore.

I fell asleep, as did almost everyone in our compartment, and was woken up by the frantic voice of Hermione.

"Shoo! Go! We've got to get changed!"

I sat up woozily, relieving Ginny of my feet.

"wha?" I said, and Hermione nodded.

"That's right, up we go, get dressed now. Into the robes we go."

We had to wait until the last sleepy boy got out of the compartment. Finally, we were alone, and I was glad that Luna hadn't come back.

I don't recall actually changing into my robes, but I do remember that once I was done, I sat by the window.

A large castle came into view.

"W-woah." I said, finally waking up.

Hermione smiled, "Amazing, isn't it?"

Ginny groaned, "Oh Gods, Tabby, She'll have you reading 'Hogwarts; a history' in no-time now!"

I just laughed, "I think it'd be nice to know it's history."

Hermione and Ginny gasped, but for different reasons.

"FINALLY! I KNEW THERE WAS SOMEONE ELSE LIKE ME OUT THERE!" Hermione cried, wrapping me in a large bear hug.

Ginny grasped her arm, "no! No! YOU CAN'T TAKE MY TABITHA! YOU WILL NOT TEACH HER YOUR UN-DYEING WAYS!"

Ginny ran to the door and flung it open, just as the boys were about to knock.

"QUICK! HELP!" Ginny screamed at Ron and Harry. "SHE'S TURNING TABBY INTO ANOTHER HERMIONE! SHE'S GOING TO GET HER TO READ 'Hogwarts; a history' OVER AND OVER AGAIN UNTILL SHE'S MEMORIZED IT!."

Ron's eyes grew large and he walked over to me.

"No. You will not read 'Hogwarts; a history.' Say it with me. "No. I will not read-

"Oh shut up you two. I'm not turning into a bookworm, or whatever you call it."

Ginny sighed with relief, and the train suddenly stopped.

We all fell over.

"What? No slowing down? No warnings? Just stop why don't you?" Ron cursed the train.

"I think it did Ron."

He turned to give me an evil glare, "Shuddup."

And we stepped off the train.

A/N: Okay.. so. The last part of the chapter was a bit… odd. But I think that just shows what kind of mood I'm in. I know I shouldn't be writing when I'm in this mood, but I can't help it. It's addicting. Even though it makes my story sort of … flop.

Cookies and dryer sheets to my reviewers!

▲Why? Because they smell good!


	7. Chapter Six

I am unwritten, can't read

my mind, I'm undefined.

I'm just beginning

Pen in my hand,

ending unplanned.

**Tell me the name of the song and/or the author, and you'll get… uh… a cookie? A part in the story? Blah, We'll figure something out.**

In which Tabitha gets a kiss

Or

In which Tabitha has a nice chat with her conscience.

Chapter Six:

Just when I thought that the outside of Hogwarts was the most amazing thing I've ever seen, they put me in the Great Hall.

Now _that_ was defiantly the most amazing thing I've ever seen.

And the ceiling- oh the ceiling.

There is not enough words in the English, French, OR Spanish language to convey the magnitude of wonder that the Great Hall is.

"Hermione! Wait! Wait for me-umph."

"Ms. Kibby, please do watch where you're going. Follow me."

"Yes 'mam."

Professor McGonagall had seemed quite different at the burrow. I remembered that we were in school, and that this was probably her teaching persona.

"You'll be sorted first, before the first years, so walk up there and get in front."

She had led me out of the Great Hall, and into a small corridor, with 30 or 40 pale children.

I walked up to the front.

"What's your last name?" asked a soft voice behind me, and I turned to see a small, brown haired girl.

"Kibby." I answered, "And yours?"

"Audley. Shouldn't you be back in the 'k's?"

I shook my head, "I'll be in 6th year. I transferred from America."

She smiled, "Oh. I'm from Ireland."

"You have a lovely accent." I whispered, noticing the great rumble of voices in the Great Hall go silent.

The door in front of me opened, and I quickly smiled at the girl, "See you later."

I walked out, cringing under the stare of so many people.

"Ms. Tabitha Kibby has transferred from America. She'll be joining the 6th year." Professor McGonagall said, her voice magnified to reach the back of the room.

She gestured to a stool, and I sat. And suddenly, a hat was placed upon my head.

_Could it be?_

"Could it be what?" I asked, remembering to talk inside my head as Ginny had instructed.

_You are a Kibby, are you not?_

"yes."

"_Your parents went to school here, did you know that?"_

"No, they went to school in America."

_No. Those weren't your parents. Your parents came here. Their names were Alice and John, were they not?_

"Yes. But my parents went to school in-

"_yes, whatever you say dear child. Now what house to pick…_

"What house is Ginny Weasley in?"

_Weasley…Weasley… We've had many of those. They've all gone into Gryffindor._

"Then could I be there too? Everyone I know is there."

_But wouldn't you like to go into Slytherin? I hear they have far more fun._

"No. Gryffindor please."

_But you'd do so well in-_

"please!"

"_You're just like the rest of them. A set mind where to go, eh?"_

"Of course."

"_Well then…"_

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The applause and cheers instantly rang into my ears, and I sat down in a seat beside Ginny.

"Samantha, Audley" Called Professor McGonagall, and the short brown haired girl came out. She had a angelic smile on her face, and her deep green eyes sparkled in the light.

She sat on the stool, and it only took a second for the hat to figure it out.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

I smiled and clapped, patting her hand as she sat down across from me.

She smiled and looked around, before looking back at me.

"I'm so glad I got into Gryffindor. I really didn't want to go into Slytherin, and Ravenclaw sounds boring, and Hufflepuff sounds like pink bunnies. Blah."

I laughed, and she grinned wider, until Ginny coughed and tapped me on the shoulder.

"Oh, sorry," I whispered as the hall grew silent, "Ginny, this is Samantha. She was first in line until I came along. Samantha, this is my best friend, Ginny."

Samantha grinned and waved at Ginny, and Ginny did the same.

I didn't recognize and of the names, but I know some people did. That night in the Gryffindor common room, Samantha and I were talking, while Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione chatted about some of the new first years.

As soon as I started talking to Samantha, I realized she wasn't like the rest of the first years. She was bold and outgoing. Something that the rest of them severely lacked. She wasn't afraid to smile at the older kids, or wave, or even stop to say hello.

"I went to a muggle primary school." She commented, "So I'm used to having loads of people older than me. Most magical folk don't send their kids to Muggle schools, but mine did. They said that they would rather me be well rounded in both worlds, so I would have a wider job possibilities when I got older."

I nodded, "Well, I grew up muggle, so I've been in muggle school my whole life also."

We chatted some more, and then she requested that I call her Sam.

"Samantha sounds much too doll-like." She reported.

"Indeed it does."

That night in bed, I laid there, looking at the charmed ceiling.

_This is all going to fast. I… I want it to slow down._

_The summer's gone, and I'm already sleeping at Hogwarts. Where has my life gone? Where is it taking me?_

…

I couldn't sleep that night. At about two in the morning, I stood up and walked down to the common room. Fixing myself on the couch, blanket in hand and pillow under my head, I looked at the fire.

Suddenly, the Fat Lady portrait opened, and in stumbled Ron.

"Oh… er… hi." He said when he glanced up at me, "I was just… uh… down in the kitchens. Didn't eat much at supper ya know.."

I laughed softly, "I sooo doubt that, Ron."

He walked over, "Want some company?"

I nodded and pulled my knees up to my chest.

"Can't sleep?" He asked, placing his hand on my arm.

I shook my head, "Too many things going on."

"Look- I… I know this probably isn't a good time but… Tabitha, I really-

The portrait slammed open, and a dark hooded figure stepped through, glancing around.

Ron was immediately on his feet, pushing himself in front of me.

"EXPELLIARMUS!" He cried, disarming the figure.

"Mr. Weasley!" It said, pulling off the hood, "I beg of you, don't make any noise!"

"Pro-Professor Sn-nape." He stumbled over his words.

"yes. Now do you happen to know where Potter sleeps?" Snape snapped, sending Ron off running upstairs to fetch him. Quietly of course.

I sat back on the couch, pulling the blanket up to my pajama-clad chest. I stared into the fire, not daring to look at the Professor.

Harry stumbled down the steps, his wand and a cloak in hand.

"You wanted to see me Professor?"

"You are needed in the Headmaster's office."

Harry nodded, suddenly full awake, and followed.

I looked quickly back at Ron, "What was that about?" I asked worriedly.

He sat, shaking onto the couch. There was a long silence, but finally, he looked up and said, "Tabby, I'm scared for Harry."

I nodded, sitting beside him and taking his hand, "What's going on Ron?" I whispered, lifting my hand to his face to turn it to look at me, "what should I be aware of?"

"He's probably gone off with Dumbledore by now. They've probably found out the location of the seventh horcrux."

I closed my eyes and wracked my brain for the definition. Dumbledore told me but…

"Voldemort's soul." I whispered, and Ron nodded, standing up and pacing in front of the fire place.

"They've done this twice before. In the middle of the night. This is the last thing we need. And when it's gone…" He trailed off, stopping right in between the fire and me.

The red glow behind him illuminated his hair and accented his figure. It seemed as though he was on fire himself.

"Tabitha, I do believe we're going to have a war before Christmas."

My eyes widened, and Ron came to sit back beside me, turning his head into the fire.

"Or at least before the school year is over."

When I awoke, I was lying against Ron's chest. A deep rumble had startled me awake, and I looked up to see Ron…

Snoring? I couldn't believe it. Ron snores? And LOUD too! I giggled, sitting up stiffly, as to not wake him.

"Wha-a?" He asked, sliding his hand through his hair and slowly opening his eyes.

I tried to vanish the grin, but it seemed plastered to my face.

"What?"

I shook my head and looked at the ashes in the fireplace.

"What?" He said sounding annoyed, but a grin on his face all the same.

I giggled.

"What?" He said, attacking my ribs with tickles.

"Noooo. You SNORE!" I screeched, throwing my hands at anything in my surroundings that I could get them on; the back of the couch, the useless pillow, the spare blanket; anything.

He stopped, smiling, "Is that all?"

I nodded.

"Your very profound, Tabby."

I smiled, and suddenly.

"Matnetisium!" a first-year-sounding-squeaky voice yelled.

I turned to see two first years having a mock battle, coming down the staircase, just in time to see a spiraling purple light hit Ron and I right in the faces.

I waited to see what the spell would do, and 5 minutes later, I opened my eyes.

Ron was looking around, at me, at him, and then back at me, "It didn't do anything."

"Maybe it wasn't a real spell."

He shrugged, and leaned forward to grab the pillow from behind me, I tried to move out of his way, but I couldn't, I was resisting it, but something was pulling me towards Ron's…

_Lips_

At first, it was just a light touch, but whatever force was pulling us together wanted us to end up being one person, and it glued our lips together with such force that I was sure mine had turned purple with the pressure. Slowly Ron moved his lips, relieving the constant pressure. A quick _zing_ went through me and Ron's lips moved more frequently, as if he wanted to taste every centimeter of my lips and surrounding skin. My head went fuzzy and I found it very hard to support myself as I wrapped an arm around his neck. My other hand went behind me, slowly dropping us onto the couch. When I was flat on my back, I ran my hands through his hair, loving the silky feel of it.

_Where is all this coming from?_

_Do you think I know?_

Oh dear. Now my conscience was talking back to me.

But I soon cleared all thoughts out of my mind as Ron ran his tongue over my lips, parting them easily. Suddenly, I heard someone let out a light moan.

_What? Was that ME?_

My body was immensely enjoying this, but even though I had developed a slight crush on him (okay, MUCH more than slight) over the summer, part of me was feeling guilty about Ginny. What would she think if she came in and saw me snogging her brother. I mean, come on. I would be frantic if we were back home and she was snogging Jeffery or something. Which isn't exactly my brother, but he's my only boy cousin and I'm betting that's close enough.

But then, Ron's lips trailed away from mine and found it's way down to my neck, and every care in the world was gone. Oh how I was a sucker for neck kisses.

And there was that groaning again. I had the slightest impression that it was a joined effort that time, but I wasn't about to worry about that.

He pulled up a few minutes later, panting and all after his mouth worked so hard. I had my eyes closed, and I imagine the smile on my face was one very close to The Cheshire cat's from Alice in Wonderland.

He was kneeling above me as I slowly woke up from the ecstasy that I had just bathed in.

I slowly opened my eyes, still grinning wildly as he stood up, helping me off the couch.

_Oh boy, time for the awkward phase. Couldn't we just snog a little longer?_

But, no such bad luck. He smiled and kissed me on the forehead, wrapping me in a very comforting hug.

_Oh dear. These arms. He really should think about renting them out to hormonal girls in need. _

Pulling back, he glanced at his watch, eyes widening.

"What? Did we wake up late?"

He nodded franticly, dashing up the stairs, "Meet me down here in 5 minutes!" He yelled, and I sprinted after him.

We practically flew down to the great hall.

"We'll have enough time to grab 3 biscuits and run downstairs to the dungeons. I swear, it's like they've wanted to kill me, giving me potions first every Monday morning for the past seven years!"

We ran into the Great Hall, just as…

_Elves were putting food on the tables?_

Ron immediately switched to a confused state of mind.

And then, realization hit me.

"Erm, Ron. It's… uh… it's only Sunday."

He counted on his fingers, swirled around, and said, "Bloody Hell."

I, however, instead of cursing the elves into oblivion, collapsed in a fit of laughter, and eventually demanded that Ron carry me up the stairs, seeing as it was his fault for the entire thing.

But by the time we got up into the common room, loads of people were exiting, leaving to go to breakfast. I groaned, turning around, and dragged Ron back down the stairs.


	8. Chapter Seven

Actually, I lied. I'm just going to put 'new character information' at the beginning of the chapter they first appear in, instead of up-loading the first chapter repetitively.

**Name: Sadie Dae Thompson**

**Age:16**

**Hometown: Guntersville, Alabama, U.S.A**

**Favorite Color: Blue**

**Wand: Pheonix Feather, Holly, 10 inches**

**Dominant Hand: Right**

**Name: Kaelei Leigh Aberforth **

**Age: 16**

**Hometown: Guntersville, Alabama, U.S.A**

**Favorite Color: Red**

**Future Wand: Unicorn Hair, Yew, 7 ½ inches.**

**Dominant hand: Left**

In which Tabitha tries to take a walk

Or

In which Tabitha has to explain a great deal of things.

Chapter Seven:

"You can't, of course, be serious. Were they really?"

As Ginny nodded, Hermione squealed with delight.

"You know what this means, don't you?" She asked, standing up on her bed.

Hermione shook her head, looking puzzled.

"it means.." Ginny's delightfully bright smile faded as she realized, SHE had no clue what it meant. "Well, I don't know, but It's got to mean something good." She said, smile returning.

Hermione laughed, "I'm sure it does, Gin, I'm sure it does."

"Really, K, it can't be her. She's in America!"

"But this one CAME from America!"

"Her parents wouldn't be sending her here!"

"Her parents WENT here! With OUR parents, remember?"

The dark haired girl sighed, "fine. Whatever. You go and ask her. But don't come blaming me if-

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." The red head said, brushing the other off and heading towards me.

Ron and I were sitting on a bench outside the Great Hall, waiting for Ginny and Hermione to show up to take a walk around the lake.

"They're talking about you." Ron had whispered 10 seconds previously.

"I know." I whispered back, feeling antsy.

He chuckled as I fidgeted. I playfully smacked his arm.

"Quick!" I said, turning to face Ron, "start talking to me about something interesting."

"Why? He said, looking puzzled.

"Because it's just not right!" I exclaimed, realizing they were right behind me.

The blonde tapped me on the shoulder, and I slowly turned around, my face flushing red.

"yes?" I asked.

"Umm… well, my friend here," The dark haired girl said. (who looked very familiar, just as the blonde standing next to her.)

"She thinks we know you. Could you perhaps tell her that you're not Tabitha Jane Kibby that used to live on Lake Drive in between our houses so I can rub it in her face and feel smart all day?"

_Oh. God. Sadie and Kaelei._

I grinned and stood up, "I could say that, but that would be lying."

Sadie stopped twirling her shiny black hair (an old habit of her's) and stared, as did Kaelei.

"Merlin's lace underwear, it IS you! Tabby!" Kaelei squealed, wrapping her arms around me.

However, Sadie, being the arrogant girl that she is, shook her head.

"No. No. I refuse to believe it"

I smiled slyly, pulling out my favorite memory.

"You, Sadie Dae Thompson for FACT had a crush on Terry Reynolds in 7th grade, even though you made me _promise_ not to tell… Kaelei.

She bashed me over the head with her book, but threw her arms around me anyways.

"Tabby! Why are you here? Shouldn't you be in an American school?" She asked, finally letting me go.

"Uh… well… I um… I assume I would have, but uh, they kinda died."

" Oh God." Sadie said, placing her hand over her mouth, "When?"

I stared at the ground, "Pretty soon after you guy's moved. Like, three days after."

Kaelei threw her arms around my neck again, "Oh I'm so sorry! You should have called, emailed, _something!"_

I shrugged, "Yeah, well, It's alright."

Sadie patted my hand and gave me a teary-eyed smile.

"so, how'd you wind up here?"

I took a deep breath, not really knowing the answer to the question myself. "Dumbledore, I think."

Sadie nodded.

Ron tapped me on the shoulder.

"Oh! Ron! Sorry, I forgot! Kaelei, Sadie, Ron."

He nodded.

"And… uh… Vice Versa."

They smiled, "How's Ginny? We haven't seen her yet."

He shrugged, "There she is" and pointed to the stairs.

"Hey Gin!" They called, and Ginny came rushing over.

"Hey! What's up! I see you've already met Tabitha. She's really awesome."

Sadie giggled, "Not only have we met her, we grew up with her to."

Ginny looked back and forth but then smiled, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

I rolled my eyes at Ginny's reasoning, as did Sadie.

"We were just going out for a walk, want to come?" Ginny asked, hooking my arm with her's.

"We'd love to." Kaelei replied.

I glanced over at Ron.

"Actually… umm, I've got something to do, but I'll be out in awhile alright? You two meet me in the common room tonight, I want to catch up." I said, smiling.

They nodded, but Ginny looked at me quizzically.

"What've you got to-

"yeah, later Gin, _later." _I said, giving Ginny a 'look', which she instantly registered and nodded.

I grabbed Ron's arm, and as soon as the group walked around the corner, I swirled him around.

"Sorry about the whole ignoring thing. Are you alright?"

He nodded, smiling. "I'm glad you're happy."

I poked him as we started up the stairs, "That is so cliché it deserves an eye roll."

He laughed.

Needless to say, Ron and I never actually joined the rest of them. We were too busy… elsewhere.

We met them outside the Great Hall, and walked in, realizing we were most probably the last people to arrive.

We sat down, and avidly searched the Great Hall, for any signs of Harry or Dumbledore. Professor McGonagall caught my eye, and she slowly nodded her head, looking very distressed herself.

I nodded once and turned back to Ron, leaning on his chest for support.

And that, is where I made my big mistake.

Personally, I did that to all of my male friends when I was scared, just because they would always hug me and make me feel better. But apparently here at Hogwarts, that wasn't commonly done between friends. And I had just showed a bit of Public Affection in front of every single student here at Hogwarts, save one or three. The people surrounding us went completely silent, which doesn't really sound bad, but it was a mass chain reaction. I slowly sat back up, face turning dark red.

It was two Gryffindor girls who I came to be known as Lavender and Parvati who started to talk first, and I immediately dubbed them the gossip queens of Hogwarts. Not that 'Queen' was a deserving title for them, more like 'scum of the earth'. Ginny and Hermione just smiled, giving each other knowing looks. Sadie, who was seated directly across from me and beside Ginny smiled and softly nudged my foot in a twisted high-five way.

Then the Hall exploded in sound, and I made a mental list of names that were most commonly used:

The new girl.

_That_ new girl.

The girl with the light brown hair and green eyes sitting beside Weasley.

The beast sitting beside Weasel (coming directly from the Slytherin table)

The really pretty girl with clear green eyes sitting by that hunk of a man…male (alright, so I added this one.)

That Gryffindor girl in the black robes, the one that has her hair up with a ribbon.

The new American girl.

The new HOTT American girl. ( I didn't add this one, I SWEAR!)

Tabitha

Tab-something

It starts with a 'T'

That Kibby girl.

Kibby

I'm pretty sure there was a few more, but It's not like I was counting.

I gulped down my food and made my way back up to the dorms.

Upon entering the common room, I ran into Harry Potter, just entering himself.

"Harry!" I gasped, looking him over. He had scrapes on his face, that really needed the attention of the nearest nurse, and was limping on one leg. But he was still smiling.

"Hey Tabby." He said, grimacing in pain as he made his way to the couch, "I thought everybody would be at Dinner, that's why I came up myself."

I nodded my head, "They are. I believe they'll be there for awhile, considering the circumstances."

He raised his eyebrows, "What.. Circumstances?"

"Well, uh, Me, and uh, Ron, we kind of uh, got together this morning, and uh, well, we uh,"

He grinned, "Come on Tabby, spit it out! I could really use some laughter right about now."

I groaned, "Oh Harry, it was awfull! We were in the Great Hall, looking around for you, but then I noticed Professor McGonagall looking at me and shaking her head, and I leaned on Ron and he put his arm around me and the WHOLE HALL went _silent_ Harry. Completely _SILENT."_

He chuckled, sighed, and said "Finally."

It was my turn to look questioningly at him.

"If Ron didn't ask you out soon, I was going to ask you out for him. He was like, madly in love with you the minute you stepped off the plane, according to Ginny."

As soon as our laughter died down, I turned back to Harry, "How'd it go?" I asked, turning serious.

"We found it." He confirmed, and I hugged him joyously, but carefully.

My face fell. "All that's left is too… kill him" I could barely choke out the last two words.

He nodded, and faced me. "Tabby, and that's why I'm glad you're here. I'm not glad that you got involved in all this mess, but I'm glad I won't have to endure it alone. I don't want to sound selfish or anything but-

"It's okay Harry, I understand." I said quietly, now realizing that what I did now with Harry and Dumbledore would be changing the future of the entire wizarding world drastically.

I got Harry to Madame Pompfrey, and that night as we all sat around Harry's bed, listening to him relay the events of his adventure-ish nightmare, (me seated comfortably in Ron's lap, of course. ) I fell in love with these people, and knew that I could not just leave without helping them survive.


	9. Chapter Eight

In which Tabitha finds the order of the Order

OR

In which Tabitha finds a door.

Chapter eight:

My first day of classes flew by me. I had way to much on my mind to pay attention. I know now though, If I had been paying attention to anything that morning, I would've been very amazed.

Lunch in the Great Hall was stupendous, and I was glad that they didn't believe in creating 'Healthy Food Choice' laws like they did in the US, because Hogwarts would have immediately been shut down.

I ate a bit of mashed potatoes, chicken, and a twisty French garlic bread that was very good.

When we were all finished, and about to be let out for our afternoon classes and such, A cream colored card sat on the blank table in front of Me, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. I was fairly sure that Neville and that Luna girl had gotten a note too as I followed everyone else out of the Great Hall.

_Please adjourn in the headmaster's office after lunch for a_

_meeting of the Order of Phoenix. Please bring your wands. _

_Minerva McGonagall_

Instead of following the rest of Gryffindor upstairs, we turned right at the first corridor we saw. Professor McGonagall was whispering something to a statue of a Gargoyle when a staircase appeared, and she shooed us into it, hurriedly following after us.

A large circular table took up the majority of the room, where there was already seated The Weasleys, Dumbledore, Professor Snape, and a few dozen strangers.

Ron was seated by George, Ginny next to him, followed by Harry, Hermione, then Me, taking up the last available chair between Hermione and a girl probably in her mid twenties with bright purple hair.

"I'm Tonks" she whispered, patting my hand, "You're Tabitha, right?"

I nodded and smiled.

The Weasley family seemed to have seated themselves by age. Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny all sat relatively to the right side of the table.

"This meeting of the Order of the Phoenix will now come to order."

I giggled at the double usage of his words, as did Tonks. I was pretty sure that Tonks and I were going to get along just fine.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, but soon turned somber as he described Harry and his adventure the day and night before.

As he finished his story, Mrs. Weasley looked worriedly over at Harry, customarily looking to see if he was in any kind of pain.

"Molly, I assure you, he's fine." Dumbledore added, patting the witch's hand as she blushed. The rest of the table chuckled.

Dumbledore sat down.

"We've got to plan out our order of attack." He said grimly, and the smile on everyone's faces instantly faded.

"Charlie?" He asked, looking at the second Weasley child.

"Dragons. How many can you get us?"

Charlie thought it over, and grimaced, "17 at the most."

Dumbledore nodded, "That's way better than I expected."

"Kingsley? I'll need the Aurors. How many are already on our side? And how many do we need to persuade?"

That tall black man sitting almost directly across from me looked down at a sheet of paper below his hands.

"We have about 116 on our side, Albus. They're Aurors, they're meant to save the world." Kingsley answered, grinning back at Dumbledore, "We only have one who isn't very apt to jump into a battle."

Dumbledore nodded, "that'd be you, correct?" He chided.

Kingsley chuckled, "I'll do whatever I can."

I noticed Harry scribbling something on a piece of paper. He seemed to be taking notes.

Right then, Neville and Luna arrived late, huffing and puffing.

"We had to go get our wands." They said, sitting in two chairs behind Harry.

"Quite alright." Dumbledore said, turning to Bill.

"Goblins." He said simply.

"We've gotten all three hundred and twenty six of them."

"Fellow curse-breakers?"

"24 definite, 3 pending, 6 no."

Dumbledore nodded appreciatively at the young man. "Thank you Bill."

He then turned to his left.

"Alastor." He said, drumming his fingers on the table.

"I would like you to pair up with Nymphadora (at this Tonks twitched and growled in Dumbledore's direction.) and train Harry and Tabitha in paired dueling."

At this my eyes widened. I was expected to fight with Harry?

He didn't stop there, but rather continued.

"Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna will need to watch their lessons, and then be trained on defending them while Tabitha and Harry watch."

_Uh…wow._

Tonks and Alastor nodded, and Dumbledore moved to face Harry.

"Harry. During the D.A., do you remember any students who were particularly… swift?"

Harry nodded, writing some things down, "I'll send you a list of people who I think are capable."

"I also need people who are good with Charms."

"I know some."

He turned to Hermione.

"Hermione, you've read up on animaguses, have you not?"

she nodded eagerly.

"I need you to develop yours."

Her eyes widened, and she nodded vigerously.

"And once I select certain students, I'm going to need you to help them develop theirs."

She, again, nodded, smiling.

"I advise you to contact Minerva if you are having great difficulty." He said, a twinkling in his eye, "I don't think we'd like to end up like we did in 2nd year, would we?"

Hermione bowed her head and turned a deep scarlet, shaking her head as Dumbledore chuckled.

"Remus?" He called, looking straight ahead.

"yes, Albus?"

"how are we doing?"

"just fine Albus. I believe we now have twenty five or so on our side."

Dumbledore beamed, "That's great, my boy, just great."

"Hestia, my dear, how are we?"

"Well," she black-haired witch started, "Not so well."

"Ministry Employees not cooperating again?"

She shook her head, "Rumors have spread, Albus, many rumors. They think-

She broke off.

"They think what, Dear?"

"They think that we're all possessed." She whispered, ashamed.

But instead of scowling, Dumbledore burst into a fit of laughter.

"Why Merlin's red and blue socks! I believe that's their best one yet!"

He calmed down and turned back to Hestia, "That's alright my dear. Don't get too worried. We'll still have a chance. Just keep trying."

"Elphias Doge and Dedalus Diggle. What do you have for me?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes still shining with laughter.

"Well, as we were trying to get the population at large informed and such," Started the man with the top hat and flower

"We tried to take over the Daily Prophet. Didn't turn out too well, you see."

"But we did manage to go around, informing people of our cause."

"We left shiny notepads with basic information on them."

"Very shiny. We spent two knuts a piece on them."

Dumbledore nodded, trying to keep his wits in tact, "Yes, well, keep up the good work boys."

The two men beamed and sat back down, as though they'd accomplished a very big feat.

"Hagrid, do tell us about the people of the forest." Dumbledore said, turning to the large man sitting behind him.

"Well, The spiders say that they'll do whatever they can, as long as I'm there to protect them." He puffed out his large chest, "The centaurs though, can't say were on very good terms with them, now, can we? But the small herd of Unicorns. They said they'll willingly bottle up their Strength and stamina and send it to us, but they won't actually be involved in the battle. Can't say much for that, but at least they want to help. The few Crups in the forest say that they'll help. As long as we don't attack them during the battle, they'll help us as much as they can. There are thirty or so Doxies in the forest. They're very eager to help. The Dugbogs. They agreed to be our starting lineup. There's about seventy of them. I've found a large nesting of Phoenixes in the backlands. They've run into Fawkes a couple of times and made friends. They'll be administering tears. I know of some Griffins down in the backlands. They've been domesticated. Don't know how, though, it's usually impossible. They've agreed to be there. Buckbeak and his family are willing. I've sent letters. The school Threstrals said they'd help too, but I don't know how much of a help they'll be, seeing that we're dealing with death eaters and all."

Hagrid finally finished, screwing his face up in thought.

Harry looked up from his piece of paper, "I think I got the part about the dugbogs wrong. Have they agreed to be in starting lineup? Or did they refuse to be starting."

"They agreed." I answered for him.

He nodded, scribbling it down.

Dumbledore looked flabbergasted, "Why Hagrid, you've made astounding progress. Well done, my boy, well done." He finished, patting the now very-red Hagrid on the back.

Dumbledore shifted his gaze to a silver haired woman in the corner, who had been silently observing.

"Mrs. Figg, how are the muggles on this fine evening?"

She shrugged, "They're alright. None of them suspect anything, all they're worried about is the fog. Those Dementors just need to stop breeding. They've been at it for months!" She exclaimed.

Dumbledore nodded, "Alls well."

Dumbledore looked around the meeting room.

"Well then. As were pretty much through for business right now… Hmm.. Has everyone met Tabitha?"

Some nodded, but most shook their heads.

Dumbledore chirped, "Then I won't let you out until you have. Tea anyone?"

AS everyone stood up and got refreshments, I had to meet many people. Most of which I didn't remember their names, but eventually learned them. I figured I kind of had to, seeing as I couldn't be on the battle field yelling, "You there in the purple jeans! Yeah, you! Come over here and help, would you?"

Although that would add amusement to the somber occasion.

By the time the meeting was over, classes were done and we were only waiting for Dinner to be served in the Great Hall.

When we arrived on the seventh floor, Harry nudged me, "come help me in the room of requirement, will you?" I nodded, telling Ron where I was going.

We didn't go far until Harry signaled for me to stop, and then paced back and forth in front of a portrait.

And suddenly, a door appeared.

Oh my. This chapter has gone SOOO quickly, but yet it's taken FOREVER to write. Golly, Is it really dinner time already?


	10. Chapter Nine

In which Tabitha spends a day planning her demise

Or

In which Tabitha tickles a pear

Chapter nine:

He opened the door, and walked right in. I timidly followed.

There was a white two seater table in the middle of the room, couches surrounding, with numerous bookshelves, with everything but books on them. The room was almost big enough to fit everybody and their grandmother.

He sat down and pulled out the chair beside him. He stretched out a large piece of parchment and secured the corners with paperweights.

He turned to me, holding a non-inked quill in his hand.

"We've got to plan out an order of attack." He said, with a tone of finality to his voice.

I nodded, and looked at the notes he had made during the meeting.

_17 dragons_

_116 Aurors_

_326 goblins_

_26 curse breakers_

_25 werewolves (excluding Bill)_

I stopped reading, and looked up.

"Bill's a werewolf?" I asked.

Harry shook his head. "Only partially. He was attacked by one last year."

I nodded, and continued.

_98 ministry employees_

_179 ordinary witches and wizards._

I snickered at the last one.

Ordinary? Heh.

_42 spiders_

_Strength and Stamina from Unicorns_

_37 Crups_

"Harry, what are Crups?"

"Small dogs with forked tails. They don't like muggles. Or dark wizards for that matter."

I nodded and moved on.

_57 Doxies_

"Doxies?" I asked.

"They look like Fire. 4 arms and 4 legs. They have a lethal bite."

_87 Dugbogs_

I didn't have time to ask Harry, he just answered.

"They're tiny wood-like creatures. They'll damage their ankles really bad, and hopefully cause them to loose their wands when they fall."

I moved on.

_19 Phoenixes_

_9 Griffins_

_Buckbeak and five other Hippogriffs_

_20 Threstrals_

_1 Fluffy_

"fluffy?" I asked, puzzling over the odd name.

"Hagrid's 3 headed dog. He's huge."

Below the larger list, he had made two smaller ones. One labeled 'Swift' and one 'Charms'.

_Swift:_

_Seamus Finnigan_

_Dean Thomas_

_Katie Bell (OS)_

_Angelina Johnson (OS)_

_Alicia Spinnet (OS)_

_Ginny Weasley_

_Terry Boot_

_Padma Patil_

_Hannah Abbot_

_Charms:_

_Lavender Brown _

_Parvati Patil_

_Fred and George Weasley (OS)_

_Oliver Wood (OS)_

_Ginny Weasley_

_Lisa Turpin_

_Cho Chang_

_Penelope Clearwater(OS)_

_Ernie Macmillan_

_Blaise Zambini_

I looked up at Harry, "Are these the lists your going to give to Dumbledore?"

He nodded.

We then planned out a order of attack. Four Groups of Dragons would be in the air, along with ten groups of Phoenixes, and three of Hippogriffs. The Dugbogs would be the starting line up, Followed by four troops of Spiders, four troops of doxies, four troops of Crups, and two troops of Goblins.

Third line of Defense: Three large groups of Aurors, Two groups on the outside of swift students, five groups of Doxies, six groups of ordinary witches and wizards, four groups of Griffins, four groups of Ministry employees, Two groups of Order members, Two groups of werewolves, Two groups of Threstrals, and Grawp.

Fourth Line of defense: Five groups of curse-breakers, Four large groups of Goblins, two groups of werewolves, Two groups of Spiders, Three groups of griffins, Two groups of Dragons, two groups of student animaguses, (led by adult ones), three groups of ministry employees, Two groups of Order members, four groups of Crups, and our group: Harry, me, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, and Professor Snape (who would be switching over to our side in the middle of the war.)

In our Fifth line of defense came: Four groups of Doxies, Five groups of ordinary witches and wizards, Two groups of ministry employees, four groups of Order members, three groups of Aurors, two groups of swift students, two groups of werewolves, Two groups of Curse Breakers, and Fluffy.

The teachers would be spread out wherever they saw fit, along with anyone else who showed up. We knew we would be hearing back from other countries to see if they would be sending any forces, so we left several blank spots, just in case.

We had spent our whole afternoon upstairs in that room, planning out our demise. What a wonderful way to spend it.

Harry seemed to sense my unease as we made our way to Dumbledore's office.

"Are you okay Tabby?" he asked, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I nodded, smiling. Of course.

He stopped and stood in front of me, both hands on my shoulders.

"Tabitha. Are. You. Okay?" he said. Wow. I didn't know eyes could bore so deep.

I nodded, and he shook his head, but kept walking anyways.

"If you _ever_ need to talk, you can always come to me, alright? I let myself read way into things, not trusting anyone, telling myself I was all alone. And it took me a long time to get out of that rut. I don't want you falling there. It's a horrible place. Please tell me if you're okay or not. The truth."

He stopped again, turning to look at me and wait for my answer.

I took a small breath, and blew it out. "No."

He nodded, "Good."

We sat in front of Dumbledore. His office had left no trace of the large amount of people who had been in it earlier, and I was starting to wonder if we had actually been in Dumbledore's office at all.

"You two were sure precise about everything, weren't you?" He said, the twinkle in his eye growing.

Harry nodded, "We left room for anyone else though, people from other countries. I know we may not even have enough room on the grounds for all of these people. But hey, backup is great."

Dumbledore nodded, pasting the plans on his desk.

"I think these will do. Thank you, Harry, Tabitha. I'm glad someone has their heads on straight. You've saved me time and galleons. Have you two eaten?"

We shook our heads.

"I presume you know how to get to the kitchens, do you not Harry?"

Harry nodded. "I'm craving a pear."

Dumbledore shook his head, "I hate pears. But I'm betting a pear will do you good." He chuckled. I was beginning to think they had some kind of code going on here.

Harry noticed my confused expression and said, "You'll see."

"Goodnight Professor." We said as we left his office.

"Goodnight, my dears."

"Tickle the pear, Tabby." Harry instructed.

"The pear?" I said, pointing to a nearby portrait.

"Yes. That pear."

I touched it, and began to stroke the topside.

Something giggled as a door swung open.

The room we swept into held few tables, chairs, and two doors. As soon as we entered, both doors opened as elves filed out. At least I thought they were elves. They were shrunken, wrinkled, big eared…things. So, according to Ginny's description of elves, that was what I christened them.

"Sir is back! Harry Potter, sir, is back at Hogwarts. With a Misses! Harry Potter with a Misses!"

An elf was clinging to Harry's legs. He was _very_ unlike the rest of them. He adorned a Ski hat, numerous socks, and a tea cozy.

"Hello Dobby. Tabitha, this is Dobby. Dobby, this is-

"MISSUS TABITHA! How WONDERFULL. Dobby is very glad you're here. Yes he is. He is very."

"How's Winky, Dobby?"

Dobby's voice went very low, "Winky is no longer with us, Harry Potter sir. Master Dumbleydore decided it was best for Winky to go to another Master. She's living with Sir and Missus Lupin.

Harry scrunched his eyebrows together, "What's their names, Dobby?"

Dobby stood up, fixing his lopsided tea cozy, "Remus and Nymphadora. But Missus Nymphadora does not like that name. She likes Tonks."

Harry coughed. "I'm sorry, did you mean to say that they're living together."

Dobby nodded, "Just moved in, I think."

Harry nodded, face puzzled. "Alright then Dobby. Do you think you could fix Tabitha and I something to eat?"

Dobby quickly brought out a pork roast, surrounded by roasted vegetables and a side of toast and cheese.

We finished eating quickly, and ran upstairs before the curfew bell sounded.

The Fat lady's portrait swung open, and I immediately found Ron, taking a nap on the couch.

I walked over and jumped on top of him, laying my head on his chest. The position didn't last for long, because Ron woke up, and sat up, startled, throwing me onto the floor.

"BLOODY HELL!"

I giggled from the soft rug beneath the coffee table.

He ducked his head down, peering at me through half-closed eyes.

"Why are you beneath the table?"

"'cause that's where you threw me."

He raised his eyebrows and helped me up, pulling me to sit across his lap.

"So." He said, looking at me for an explanation.

"I think I spent the afternoon planning my death."

Ron shook his head and wrapped his arms around me.

"Nah. You planned mine."

I frowned, "That's not nice."

"it is if you see it from my perspective."

I turned around in his arms, "That makes no sense whatsoever."

"I'd die before I'd let you get hurt. Therefore, it _is_ nice."

I rolled my eyes, "That was sooooo corny."

His face fell.

"But very, very sweet." I added, placing head in the crook of his shoulder.


	11. Chapter Ten

Chapter ten:

"Now, Harry." I said as we struggled to get to our classes the next Monday morning, "We've got our first lesson tonight. And I swear, if you forget-

"You mean if _you_ forget."

I scowled, "Why would I forget?"

"What were we talking about again?"

I threw my potions book at his head, "Harry Potter!" I yelled, ducking the Charms book that had made it's way towards my head.

The sound of a large door sweeping closed rang in our ears, and we hurriedly picked up our books and ran the rest of the way down the hallway to catch up with our friends.

"Tabitha!" Ginny yelled from behind me. "Where are you going?"

I looked at her, then turned to Harry.

_Oh._

_I don't have potions first._

I ran towards Ginny, quickly swooping into the Muggle Studies. I loved this class. I excelled exceptionally in it.

"Ms. Weasley. Ms. Kibby. Glad you could join us."

From the back of the room, I could tell that the teacher in front was _defiantly _ not Professor Averies.

As I sat, Ginny gulped.

"Professor Sinistra" She whispered, her face twitching in pain.

"Ms. Weasley. You're already late. I DO expect you to behave, at least while I'm acting teacher."

"Didn't know she could act." A ravenclaw retorted, and the rest of us snickered.

She sighed, fell into her chair, and propped her feet up on the table.

"You lot, whatever. Just… don't wake me up." She said, promptly falling asleep, head falling back.

Ginny giggled, "She's certainly a vampire. She's a strict as Mum at midnight."

I groaned, remembering my first astronomy class last week.

"how will I do it?" I asked Ginny. "I'll fall asleep. She makes up lay down! Of COURSE I'll fall asleep!"

Ginny and I spent the rest of the period chatting, right up until a ravenclaw came up to us and tapped my shoulder.

"You're the new girl, right? From the states?"

I nodded, trying to make my face say 'I'm not interested' as much as possible without being rude.

He smiled, flipping his brown hair to the side of his forehead.

"Stewart Ackerley. You've probably heard of me, being co-captain of our Quidditch team and all."

I raised my eyebrows, "The what?"

He stumbled, "The Quidditch team .You know… the…broom...Are you telling me you've never heard of Quidditch before?"

I shook my head, leaning my head forward, so it was barely 5 inches away. "Tell me about it." I said in a sultry voice. I felt Ginny shaking.

He smiled the smile he seemed to think was sexy. Ha.

"Well, there are three goals, right? At each end. There's a seeker, keeper, 2 beaters, and 3 chasers."

"Really." I said, trying to sound interested.

He nodded, and continued. "The seeker chases a golden snitch. The chasers fly around, trying to get a ball called the quaffle into the other team's three goals. The keeper protects the goals, trying not to let them in. That's pretty much it. The most famous game in history."

I smiled. "Maybe you can teach me, someday. You know… let me get a feel for the game?" I asked, slowly inching closer. I glanced at the clock. Perfect.

He smiled, "Maybe I could teach you right now." He inched closer, angling his face…

Just as the bell rang.

_I am soooo smooth._

I stood up, giving the guy a puppy dog pout as Ginny dragged me into the hallway, shaking with laughter.

"You are so going straight to hell." She said finally.

I shook my head.

I turned around to see Ron running up the hallway, just as the Stewart guy was coming out the door.

I grabbed Ron's tie when he stopped in front of me, and pulled him in for a bit of PDA. I was hoping for a whole heck of a lot of it.

I kept watch on the Stewart guy out of the corner of my eye. His jaw was lying on his chest, and his books were splattered on the ground. Boy, was he angry.

"Hey!" He yelled at Ron, pulling the back of his robes. "What do you think your doing?"

Ron pulled me close, obviously confused. "Kissing my girlfriend. Is there a problem with that?"

"You're _girlfriend?_" he spat, looking eerily at me.

Ron nodded, and took my hand, leading me up to the staircase.

When we were climbing the second set, he turned to Ginny and I. "What was that all about?"

Ginny tripped over the next stair. I assumed the giggles had taken over.

"He umm.. was flirting with me during class. So, I decided to give him a little kick in the butt."

Ginny sat up, grinning at me, "She flirted, THEN kissed you. God Ron, you sure are lucky. I swear, it was like she was some kind of Scandinavian seductress or something."

Ron raised an eyebrow and helped Ginny up. "Alright then."

Ginny continued, "It was Mum's worst nightmare. A 16 year old scarlet woman."

I laughed, familiar with the old phrase, "Your mum still uses that phrase?" I asked, not too surprised.

Ginny rolled her eyes, "Merlin's black lace underwear yes! It's the most annoying thing on earth."

Ron agreed.

It was nearing eleven, and Ron and I were having our nightly chat in the common room.

Ron turned me around in his lap to face him. "So now I have a scarlet woman?" He asked, kissing my forehead.

"Of course. The best for the best."

He grinned, trailing kisses down my throat and onto the top of my chest.

We were well into a compromising situation when Professor McGonagall burst through the portrait hole, followed by Professor Dumbledore, and Snape.

I'm betting they had been there for awhile when Ron and I finally heard them whispering.

I shot up off the couch, which wouldn't have been a bad idea, but seeing that Ron was on top of me made it a horrible one.

"As much as we'd like to let you continue your…ah…plans. We have some urgent business we need your opinion in." Professor Dumbledore chided.

I groaned, hoping it was something like knitting patterns.

Professor McGonagall strode to the stairwell, on her way to get Ginny and Hermione I suppose.

Then I thought.

"Uh…Professor? I'll go get them for you." I offered, running to stand beside her.

"Oh, I'll go get them. The Professors need to fill you in on whats-

I shook my head, "Well, at least let me go get Ginny."

She raised an eyebrow, "They have the same dorm, Ms.Kibby, I assure you that I'm able to get them."

I shook my head once again, "Professor, I promise you. You want me to go get Ginny."

She sighed, looked from me to Ron, to me again and nodded, "Fine. Go get Ginny."

I could only imagine the expression on her face when I bounded up the boy's stairwell.

"Harry! Ginny!" I whispered, pulling open Harry's curtains.

If the sight I saw before me was anything like the sight Ron and I had created, I pitied my Professors greatly. I wasn't embarrassed though. I didn't know they'd be running in at midnight.

I closed my eyes and turned around while they tried to make themselves presentable.

"The professors are downstairs waiting. Hurry up."

I walked out of the room, and ran into Hermione on the landing. She grinned.

"Now you know what it feels like, having to get those two up."

I nodded, wanting desperately to get the sight out of my vision.

Ten minutes later, we were all seated in Dumbledore's office.

"The Death Eaters are approaching." He said, quite plainly.

"I expect to battle before Wednesday. I've alerted Charlie with the dragons, Hagrid with the creatures, and everyone else. They'll all be arriving tomorrow." He then turned to Harry and I, "You two will be training with Tonks from five a.m. in the morning, until tomorrow night. the rest of you will be with Moody. You've only had 5 lessons so far. I know that will barely be enough." He turned to me, "Tabitha, are you going to be alright with this?"

I nodded, "You can't help when they come. I wouldn't be 'alright' with this any ways. But It's not like you can help when they plan to attack."

He smiled, patting my hand.

When we left, we were all given potions. "To make us feel rested." when we woke up 4 fours later.

On four hours of sleep, I wasn't sure that I'd ever feel rested again.

And boy, was I wrong.

I woke up feeling stronger than ever.

Meeting Tonks in the Room of Requirement at Five was not on my to do list. She was a _very_ good substitute to black coffee. Her bright pink hair was enough to wake anyone up.

We worked until Lunch. It was awful. My mind was spinning with names and meanings of new spells, charms, curses, defensive strategies. Harry had dark bags under his eyes, and I was sure I looked the same. Ron, Ginny, and Hermione were all late to lunch. They didn't have bags under their eyes, but they were slumped over and took forever to actually get to the table. I leaned against Ron's arm, shutting my eyes closed against the light.

He pushed me back up into a sitting position. "You need to eat love." The rest of them quickly agreed.

I shook my head, "Sleep would be better."

Harry shook his head, "Don't go to sleep. You'll feel worse when you wake up. Just eat. You'll feel better."

By the end of lunch, I had downed 3 helpings of potatoes, 2 chicken breasts, 2 slices of bread, and some kind of fruit salad.

Ron smiled and kissed my hand "I told you you were hungry."

I nodded, and proceeded to fall asleep sitting up.

I woke up as I was being shuffled out of the Great Hall.

"Come on." Harry prodded, helping me up the stairs, "Just a couple more hours to go."

"Harry James Potter you are a complete liar." I grunted, wiping sleep boogers from my eyes.

He smiled, "Sorry."

"Tabitha! Come on now! Harry's just moved to his left! What are you doing?"

"I'm moving to the right." I mumbled.

"Well then? MOVE TO YOUR RIGHT!" She yelled.

"I'M MOVING, YOU JUST CAN'T TELL!" I said, matching her tone.

"Listen, chick, one wrong move when we're actually out there and-

_Yeah yeah yeah. _

I had gotten used to tuning Tonks out.

"listen," Harry whispered when Tonks wasn't looking, "We only have another hour until she has to let us go. Make it until then, and I'll carry you up to the Gryffindor tower. Please Tabby, just come on. Don't make it any harder."

I started to feel guilty. Harry was tired too, why was I being such a pain?

I nodded, whispering a faint "sorry." As he squeezed my arm.

Turns out, Harry didn't have to carry me up to the tower.

The door swung open at a quarter to eight, and in came Ron, Ginny, Hermione, Neville, and Luna. Moody followed them, but I was surprised when Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan, Padma Patil, and Hannah Abbot followed. They looked as tired as the rest of them, and I figured they'd been practicing all day, too.

Tonks sighed, "Are we ready, Moody?"

Moody nodded, and everyone got in place. They were in a circle around us.

Harry and I backed up to each other, and got ready for whatever was coming our way.

Moody and Tonks immediately started shooting spells at us, which most of them were deflected by our human shields, but one or two made their way to Harry or I. We walked back and forth across the room as the circle around us tightened and slowly turned. After 30 minutes or so of doing that, suddenly a small wand-like thing floated beside moody. This is what me and Harry were here for.

"Advada Kerbani!" it cried, mocking the killing curse.

A green light shot towards us, and out circle broke apart, still defending Harry and I, but in a different formation.

Harry and I threw the curse we had been practicing for over an hour.

"Intereo nex of mille nex. Effluo in sepulchrum!" Harry and I cried, and the thing exploded.

Moody and Tonks nodded, signaling us to relax. But with a final curse, expecting to catch us off guard, I ducked, and Harry quickly reflected it with a simple wave of his wand.

Tonks smiled, and Moody clapped, as Harry and I promptly fainted.

We were levitated back to our dorms, and placed in bed. In the morning, though, was a whole other world.

We were up at the crack of dawn. The attack was to be placed on Hogwarts ground.

French, German, and American witches and wizards had flown in, completing My and Harry's plans.

By eight in the morning, everyone was in place, and not a sound was made. Even the dragons were silent, waiting for their cue.

There were loads of potions bottled up, just inside the Hogwarts doors.

We were all dressed in white.

_Blood stains white._

I was kissing Ron furiously, clinging to Ginny and Harry, and holding on to Hermione for dear life. I had talked to Kaelei and Sadie that morning. They would be looking out for me on the battle field.

Most of the Hogwarts students had enlisted to help. A sign up sheet hadn't even been placed in the Slytherin common room. We all knew where they would be on that day.

Harry, Ron, Ginny, Hermione, and I marched down the hill to the Quidditch Pitch with pride. We all had tears streaming down our face, but smiles adorned them anyways. We had to be strong. Beside Dumbledore, we were the hope of the people surrounding us.

_Even though I tremble,_

_You're always by my side_

_Even though I make mistakes,_

_You're my never-failing aide_

_You're my wonderful_

_My through and through_

_I don't know what I'd do_

_Without you_

That poem was one I wrote last week. So, I own it. No stealie, alright?

Okay guys… we're up to bat.

The next one will be up soon.

I've re-read this last bit over and over, and I don't know what it is about it, but it makes me have goose bumps. I haven't even gone into detail about it, yet. Maybe it's just because I know what's coming. I mean, yeah, we all know what's coming. But I'm throwing a few surprises in there.


	12. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven:

It was nearing noon when the Forbidden Forrest started to move. The leaves of the trees started to shake, and the dark robes of death eaters became visible. But the death eaters stayed where they were.

They let the Giants go first.

I felt Grawp's movements become uneasy as he recognized his friends. His enemies.

Our troop was instructed to stay on the Quidditch Pitch until the fourth bell sounded.

The Giants went down easy. While the dragons attacked from above with their handelers, land dwellers attacked their legs and ankles, causing them to become unsteady.

The second bell sounded.

It was over an hour before we heard the next bell. I sat there- amazed as I realized they had not planned airborne attacks.

I clung to Ron's shirt. We were all huddled up, hugging each other and silently saying temporary good byes. I stared up at Ron.

"I love you." I said plainly.

He sat down and took me in his arms, burying his face in my hair.

"I love you too, Tabitha."

He looked down at me, "Promise me when all this is over, you'll meet me by the Great Hall doors. Just Promise me."

I nodded, "Just promise me you'll be there."

"I'll so my best love."

And then the bell sounded.

The fourth bell.

Ron hugged me and reluctantly lead me over to the center of the circle that was forming around harry.

I smiled and squeezed Harry's hand when he grasped mine.

We walked up the hill, joining in combat.

Our circle stayed in the back, slowly making it's way.

I looked around, seeing mangled bodies of dark and light.

_Once your dead, it doesn't matter what color your in. _

I realized there was barely any blood on any of them.

_Magic doesn't leave visible scars._

I stumbled, seeing Kaelei's smiling face be trampled by a careless death eater.

_She didn't feel it, she was already dead._

Harry kept me upright, his eyes darting around.

He was whispering something, but it was too soft for me to understand.

Harry and I couldn't see much from our position, our vision was messed up by the semi-translucent shields that our friends were holding up, protecting us.

I realized that we were in the middle of the field, not to far away from Where Hagrid's Hut still stood. I was willing to bet that it wouldn't be there when all this ended.

"HARRY POTTER!"

Harry and I quickly turned around.

"It's so nice to see each other again, don't you think?" A dry voice cackled.

A dark hooded figure stood not even five paces in front of Ginny.

"Brought your little girlfriend with you, eh Harry?"

He brought his hand up to Ginny's face, trailing a crooked finger down her cheek.

"Get away from her." Harry seethed stepping a step in front of me.

It was then that Voldemort spotted me.

"I thought I finished you and your parents off!" He screeched.

My face fell, "You killed my parents?"

"Made it look like a common muggle disease I did! The easiest kill on earth!" he cackled, taking a step back.

He went quiet, and looked me straight in the eye.

"Usually, I _play_ with my friends first, you know, before we have to say goodbye. But I guess I'll let you off easy. ADVADA KE-

our circle broke, and we had minimal time to send the curse Harry and I had been chanting for two days.

"Intereo nex of mille nex. Effluo in sepulchrum!" I cried, fighting the urge to just run forward and plunge my wand into his heart.

_I don't think he has one._

I watches a black storm rose into the air, creating a cyclone. The dark lord and all his breathing followers were sucked into it, instantly leaving silence on the field.

It was then that I promptly collapsed for the second time in two days.

I don't know how long I had been out when I woke up. It couldn't have been too long, though. A few people were scattered about, checking on the wounded, and levitating the dead.

I heard a soft, cooing voice behind me, but I didn't yet have the strength to open my eyes.

"Shh, everything's alright now, love. Everything's alright. We've made it through. There's nothing to worry about anymore darling, I'm here."

"But you almost died!" A strangled voice cried, and I had a feeling I knew them.

I felt a gurgling in the pit of my stomach, groaning I knew what was coming.

"Tabby? Are you alri-

I held up a hand to the voice, rolling over onto my stomach and pulling myself up onto my knees. My stomach lurched, throwing out all it's contents, along with a sticky red substance.

Someone pulled my hair back, while another rubbed small comforting circles on the small of my back. After I finished, I sat in he same postion, just breathing, making sure there wasn't more. There wasn't.

I pulled my feet out from under me, and sat back on my butt, looking up to see Hermione and Professor Snape.

Remembering the conversation from earlier, I looked around to find the talking couple.

There was no one in hearing range but us.

I looked at Hermione. Her face was tear-streaked.

Could this mean…

I pulled out my wand to perform a cleaning spell, thanking them for their help.

"Come on, we need to get you to the Hospital Wing. You too, love." Snape said, pulling Hermione off the ground. They turned to help me up, but I waved them off.

I stood up, but immediately felt dizzy, and clung to Hermione's arm. I shut my eyes.

"Tabby? What's wrong?"

"Hang on." I whispered, wishing the dizziness away.

When it disappeared, I opened my eyes, nodded at Hermione, and we made our way up to the main doors, stopping to let me throw up in the grass one last time.

Inside the main doors, Ron was slumped against a wall.

"_Promise me you'll be there"_

I slowly made my way over to him, sliding down beside him.

He looked up, "TABBY!" he cried, throwing his arms around me.

I stopped him, "Don't squeeze." I said, burrowing my face in his neck.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"I've just thrown up. Twice."

"Mr. Weasley, I advise you get her to the hospital wing as soon as possible, she's bringing up blood."

Ron stood up and quickly, but carefully, picked me up and preceded to carry me up the stairs behind Hermione and Snape.

"Ron, let me down, I can walk, you know."

He shook his head, staring at me with those big green eyes of his.

"Let me down Ron!" I said, picking at his arms.

"No."

"You're stubborn British prick!"

"You're a wonderful American beauty, what's your point?"

I sighed. You can't fight with someone who's just called you beautiful.

Snuggling up to his chest, I murmured, "I love stubborn British pricks."

"And I love Tabitha's." he replying kissing my forehead.

"We're so corny." I whispered.

Hermione burst out laughing, and I looked up to see her and Snape standing in front of us, Snape with an amused smirk on his face.

"What did you just say, Tabitha?" Hermione asked, looking at me strangely through her smile.

I raised an eyebrow, "I think I said, 'We're so corny.'"

Hermione giggled, "Oh. We thought you said something else."

I thought about that for a moment, then shrugged, "Well, Hermione, I think that's your problem. Not mine. We're corny, you're-

Hermione turned back around to glare at me, "Don't you dare finish that sentence, Tabitha Kibby."

I shrugged, "If you insist."

I was very glad that our trip up to the hospital was light-hearted. After seeing what had just happened, after loosing so many people, I could've used a laugh or two.

The Hospital Wing was almost as crowded as the battle field was. I saw no grotesque factors, no blood or guts, and I was glad that magic was different in that aspect.

Ron placed me on the first empty bed he saw, and called to Madame Pompfry.

"I'll be there in a second Mr. Weasley." She said fro ma near-by bed.

I looked up at Ron, "Are Harry and Ginny okay? What about Neville and Luna?"

"They're fine love, up in the Gryffindor common room."

"Have you seen Sadie?"

"That brunette you met the other day? Yeah. She's fine, too. But, love, the re-head, Kae-

I nodded, "I know Ron. I saw it happen."

He kissed my cheek, "I'm sorry you had to see that, love. I'm sorry it happened."

I shook my head, not trusting my mouth to open.

"Is everything going to be okay now Ron?" I asked a few minutes later, looking out the window.

"I sure hope so Tabby, I sure hope so."

"I love you, Ron."

"And I love you."

FIN!

Alright, I hope you all remember that note I first gave you. This fic was going to be short and sweet. Review, my lovelies, review! Tell me why you liked/hated it. Thanks for sticking with me!


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